The Electricals Recycling Fund 2026, making £1m available to make it easier for UK householders to recycle their electricals, has been launched by Material Focus.

The Fund is inviting applications from UK councils and other organisations to deliver easily accessible, locally based, small electrical recycling solutions across the UK.

Over its tree years of existence it has already delivered over 900 collection points and helped 33,000 items be rehomed and over 900 tonnes recycled.

The Electricals Recycling Fund 2026 is inviting applications now from UK councils and other eligible organisations seeking to introduce or expand practical or scalable collection options. Funding will focus on supporting on-street collection banks, creation and installation of community collection points in high traffic locations like libraries and leisure centres and refurbishment of bring banks already in place.

Of the £1m available in 2026, £500,000 has been provided by the Distributor Takeback Scheme (DTS) operated by Valpak, and a further £500,000 will be provided from the Electricals Recycling Fund. The campaign is funded by producers of electrical appliances. The Government sets annual targets for the recycling of all waste electricals, including small electricals, if producers of electrical appliances don’t meet this target, then they contribute towards a fund (WEEE Fund) which pays for a range of activities, including communications, behaviour change activities, increased recycling projects and research.

Under the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directive, retailers can choose between managing take-back themselves, or joining the Distributor Takeback Scheme (DTS), which is managed by Valpak Retail WEEE Services. DTS members pay a fee, based on their share of the market, which is used to fund improvements to the collection, reuse, and recycling of WEEE.

Organisations applying for funding are likely to be those seeking to grow or develop existing household collection services for small electricals and innovate new collection methods. Material Focus are expecting applicants from a range of organisations including local authorities and non-profits. Individuals are not eligible for the funding.

Successful pilots funded by the 2025 Electricals Recycling Fund include Richmond Council, Lewisham Borough Council and Hillingdon Borough Council.

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