How to Recycle Cables and Chargers: Six Cents Each, Millions Together

A single cable holds around five grams of copper, worth about 6.5 cents at today’s board price. The cables sitting unused in one country's homes hold roughly 3,200 tonnes of it, and the wider pile of unused electricals in those same homes holds an estimated 38,449 tonnes worth around £266 million. That gap is the entire problem: individually a cable is worth nothing, collectively it is a copper mine. Cables are electrical waste, never household recycling, and they are the highest copper-content item most homes contain.

The drawer they live in has a name in the research literature, and it is not flattering.

The arithmetic that explains everything

The two published figures cross-check. A campaign calculation that a million recycled cables would save 5,000 kg of copper implies five grams per cable, and the separate estimate of 3,200 tonnes across 627 million cables implies 5.1 grams. Those are consistent, which is more than can be said for many recycling statistics.

So the honest position is: do not expect to be paid, and do not let that be the reason the drawer stays full.

What is actually inside

Cables contain at least 20 percent copper by weight, which makes them the richest copper source in an ordinary house by concentration. The problem is that each piece is tiny.

A drawer of 23 cables weighs under three pounds. Sold as insulated wire that is about $7.84 at today’s price, which does not clear the cost of a trip on its own, as our scrap value index sets out for every household item.

Add them to a load already going, or use a free drop-off. Both work; a dedicated journey does not.

Why the drawer exists

Survey work in one national campaign found the reasons are practical rather than lazy.

• Two in five households keep a stash of unused electricals.
• 35 percent who hold onto them do so because they do not know how to dispose of them properly.
• 21 percent say they do not recycle electricals because they do not know how, and another 21 percent because it is too difficult.
• Over a third check for unused electricals less than once a year.
• Over a quarter said they felt embarrassed, annoyed or frustrated by what they were storing.

Globally, only about 12 percent of small electrical waste was recycled in a recent measured year, according to the international producer responsibility body. Small items are the fastest-growing part of the problem and the least likely to be collected.

What changed: the charger you no longer get

The supply side is being addressed by regulation, which is unusual in recycling.

The European common charger rules required USB-C on phones, tablets, earbuds, cameras and handheld consoles from December two years ago, and extended to laptops rated up to 100 watts on 28 April this year. Higher-powered gaming machines may keep a proprietary connector provided they also carry a USB-C port.

Two parts matter for households:

• Unbundling. Manufacturers must offer a no-charger option, so you can buy a device and keep using the charger you have. Packaging now carries a pictogram showing whether a charger is included, whether fast charging is supported, and the wattage range.
• Interoperability. One certified charger covers most devices, which removes the reflex to buy a new one with every purchase.

The Commission estimates discarded and unused chargers account for about 11,000 tonnes of electrical waste a year in the bloc, against 420 million portable devices sold annually and around €2.4 billion spent on standalone chargers. It expects consumer savings of roughly €250 million a year, and has said it will consider whether similar rules should apply to cables.

That last line is the one to watch. Cables are the next obvious target.

What to do with them

1. Sort out what still works. A working charger or cable is worth far more to somebody than its copper. Community groups, repair cafés and schools take them.
2. Bag the rest together. Loose cables tangle and get refused; a bag of them is straightforward.
3. Use a free drop-off. Councils, recycling centres, many supermarkets and electrical shops all take small electricals, and several countries run dedicated cable collection points.
4. Add them to a load going anyway if you sell scrap. They are insulated wire, and they sit at the top of the low-grade band.
5. Never put them in a household recycling bin. They tangle in sorting machinery exactly as plastic film does, and they are classed as electrical waste in most jurisdictions.

Should you strip them?

No. Household cables are thin multi-strand conductors, frequently tinned, and the copper recovered grades below bare bright.

Our wire stripping analysis puts the break-even at about 48 percent copper content. Thin cord sits below that line, which means stripping it earns less than selling it as it is, before counting your time.

Common mistakes

• Putting cables in the kerbside bin. They are electrical waste and they tangle sorting equipment.
• Binning a charger with a device. Both are recyclable, and the charger often still works.
• Waiting for a cable to be worth something. At six cents each, that day is not coming.
• Stripping thin cord for copper. Below the break-even, so you lose money and time.
• Cutting the plug off. It does not improve the grade and creates a hazard.
• Storing them for a decade. Standards change, and a drawer of obsolete connectors helps nobody.
• Assuming a cable with a battery pack inside is just a cable. Powered accessories follow the battery rules on our electronics hub.

Where this fits

The general routing question and the battery rule are on the electronics hub, and the drop-off options with their limits are compared on where to recycle old electronics. The wider question of which stream any item belongs to sits on the recycling hub.

What the copper inside pays around the world

Cables are the highest copper-content item in most homes, so the value of a collected pile follows the copper market. The table below converts our insulated wire grade into each market’s own currency and units at the day’s exchange rate.

How we produced this

The cable counts, copper tonnage, household averages and survey percentages come from research commissioned by a national electrical recycling campaign, conducted by an independent polling firm among a nationally representative sample. They are estimates for one country and should not be scaled to others without adjustment.

We cross-checked two of that campaign's own figures against each other, and they imply five and 5.1 grams of copper per cable respectively, which is consistent. Values in dollars are our own conversion of those tonnages at our current copper board price, documented on the editorial policy page, and are indicative rather than achievable prices for household quantities.

The charger regulation details, waste tonnage and savings estimates are from the European Commission and from trade reporting on the directive. The 12 percent small electrical recycling figure is attributed to the international producer responsibility body that founded the awareness day the campaign runs alongside.

Frequently asked questions