The average UK house has about £200 of unwanted and unused technology sitting gathering dust.

Things like games consoles, smartphones and tablets could be turned into extra cash by selling them on, one financial expert has claimed.

Recycle Your Electricals, a UK-wide campaign motivating and making it easier for everyone to reuse and recycle unwanted electricals, has crunched the numbers.

Apparently, there are 20,700,000 unused but working tech electricals – worth a possible £5.63 billion – currently hoarded in UK homes.

The campaign’s research also identified that 18,600,000 broken tech items are currently being hoarded in UK homes, including laptops, tablets, computers, and games consoles that could be recycled.

Second hand tech: what it’s worth

According to Recycle Your Electricals, here’s what you could expect to make from selling your second-hand tech:

• Games consoles: Re-sale value can range from an Xbox One at £110 to a Nintendo Switch at £200.
• Tablets can be re-sold for between £193 and £420.
• Laptops resale value range between £274 and £420.
• Desktop computers, including the monitor, could be re-sold for around £250.

Recycle Your Electricals partnered up with personal finance expert Paul Lewis to urge people to sell what they can and recycle what they can’t.

‘If you are beginning to struggle financially or are worried about your financial future there are positive steps all of us can take to help ourselves or others financially,’ Mr Lewis said.

‘There really is treasure in our tech that can be sold or recycled to, help families or help the environment.’

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The campaign’s research found a staggering 11.7 million laptops and 9.17 million tablets have the potential to be sold or recycled. Both devices featured in the five most-hoarded items list.

This was followed by 18.5 million games consoles and 6.5 million computers, which also have the potential to be sold or recycled.

Paul Lewis: Top financial tips to beat the cost-of-living crisis

• Start budgeting now – get out your bank and card statements and go through each line ruthlessly. If there are regular amounts you don’t recognise check what they are and if you don’t want them in future cancel them.
• Look at your debts, dealing with the most expensive first. There are schemes now to freeze payments which are worth checking out. If you are going to miss a payment, talk to the lender.
• Get your benefits – as your income falls you may be entitled to help from the Government or your local council. Check it out using the free, anonymous, calculator at www.turn2us.org.uk
• Claim back tax. If you have lost your job or worked from home in the last couple of years, then you will probably be due money back from the taxman. Go to gov.uk and search ‘working from home’ and ‘tax refunds’. Don’t pay anyone to do it for you. That is just a waste of money.
• Anyone born between 1 September 2002 and 2 January 2011 (inclusive) has a little pot of money with their name on it from the government. If you are 18 you can get hold of it – the average is worth around £1,000. Do it for free through sharefound.org
• Scattered around our homes are an average of 20 small, unwanted electricals. Do you have that many or more? Pile them up and divide them into ‘Sell. Donate. Recycle.’ You will be surprised.

According to the research team, 33 per cent of households have at least one electrical device in their home that doesn’t work that could be recycled.

You can find your nearest electrical recycling point by following this link.

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