- Almost six million children from the UK’s more than 20,000 primary schools called to join the Hidden Treasure Hunt – which aims to recycle electrical waste hidden around homes.
- £20,000 in tech prizes available for the schools that collect the most e-waste for recycling.
The nation’s schoolchildren are being encouraged to participate in a new campaign to tackle the UK’s growing electrical waste crisis – and win prizes for their school in the process.
The Hidden Treasure Hunt is a new nationwide schools-and-families initiative, open to millions of pupils from the UK’s more than 20,000 primary schools.
It aims to increase recycling levels of the old electrical items hidden away in drawers at home.
Recent research by Recycle Your Electricals found that more than 100,000 tonnes of electricals are thrown away every year, with an average of 30 items stashed away in every UK home – or more than 880 million electrical items in total.
These items contain precious materials such as copper, lithium and gold which when thrown away are lost forever, and could instead be re-used in other products.
Many electrical products also contain batteries which are fuelling the rise in battery fires in bin lorries and waste centres across the UK.
Participating pupils can drop off their unwanted tech at any Currys store, where they are guaranteed at least a £5 Currys voucher, or at almost 30,000 drop off points across the country to receive points towards their school’s tally. Drop off points can be found on the Recycle Your Electricals postcode locator.
Schools will be ranked on a national leaderboard, with those ranked highest at the end of the 2025/26 academic year receiving a share of £20,000 of tech vouchers, which can be put towards vital learning aids like laptops, tablets and other education-friendly tech.
Anything with a plug, battery or cable can be recycled as part of the scheme – which is being supported by Circular Economy Minister, Mary Creagh MP.
“We all know the importance of recycling, but electrical items, like old smartphones and electric toothbrushes, tend to be forgotten and thrown away instead.
Mary Creagh Circular Economy Minister
With an average of 30 unused electrical items in each household, this government is determined to end the nation’s throwaway culture and reduce waste to landfill and incineration.
By finding the ‘hidden treasure’ in old electricals, primary school kids can ensure their devices have a second life, rather than costing the earth. I encourage everyone to get involved in this exciting campaign.”
Participating schools will receive a campaign pack including assembly and curriculum-linked resources to support learning around climate change, sustainability and community engagement.
The Hidden Treasure Hunt is a Wastebuster and Currys-led campaign, partnering with Material Focus, Microsoft, DHL and Ecogenesys that forms part of the wider Recycle your Electricals campaign.
It builds on a successful 2023 pilot, led by Wastebuster and delivered in collaboration with Recycle Your Electricals, Currys and Microsoft, in which school communities collected more than 200 tonnes of e-waste for reuse and recycling in just six weeks.
Pupils can also track their school’s progress on the national leaderboard and see the environmental difference their actions make – individually and collectively. This blend of online and real-world action will make sustainability education tangible, innovative and impactful.
Partner Quotes:
“There’s hidden treasure in every piece of tech lying around homes up and down the country – and we are hoping to inspire the next generation to help uncover it! Through education and action, we’re demonstrating how tech can be given a longer life, something we are passionate about at Currys. I love this campaign: it sparks curiosity, helps build more positive habits and brings families, schools and individuals together to do their bit to tackle the UK's e-waste crisis.”
Paula Coughlan Chief People, Communications and Sustainability Officer, Currys
Katy Newnham, Founder, Wastebuster:
“With e-waste now the fastest-growing waste stream in the world, it’s vital that children understand both its impact – and its value. The Hidden Treasure Hunt invites young people to be part of an exciting, collective movement, working together to uncover the hidden treasure inside the technology we no longer use. By revealing the precious materials – such as gold, silver, copper and rare earth elements – locked inside everyday electricals, the campaign helps children see e-waste not as rubbish, but as a valuable resource. Just as importantly, it shows them that their actions matter. By taking part, pupils can see the real-world difference they are making, understand how the circular economy works, and lead their families and communities towards better choices that conserve resources and create lasting environmental benefits.”
Scott Butler, Executive Director, Material Focus, leading the Recycle Your Electricals campaign:
“Every year, over 100,000 tonnes of electricals are thrown away, and 880 million items lie in UK homes, many of which contain some of the most precious materials on the planet. This campaign inspires children and their families to lead the charge for change and go urban mining for these precious materials. This campaign is a win-win for the planet, we can reduce our environmental impact by preventing these materials from being lost forever and make sure that they are recycled into new items such as tech, life-saving equipment, and our green future such as electric vehicles and wind turbines.”
Graeme Milne, Chief Executive, Ecogenesys:
“On behalf of our Electrical Producer Members, Ecogenesys is delighted to be supporting the Hidden Treasure Hunt. Bringing together electrical producers, retailers and the wider sector, this campaign hopes to increase awareness of the potential within unwanted electricals and highlight the many recycling points that people may not be aware of. Harnessing the power of schools, and especially engaged children who want to make a real difference to the world we live in, we want recycling electricals to become second nature, much like recycling plastic bottles and cans.”
Paul Stone, Managing Director, DHL Supply Chain UK & Ireland:
“The Hidden Treasure Hunt is a brilliant example of how education, sustainability and community action can come together to drive real change. For these materials to be recovered and given a second life, they must first move through a safe, efficient and traceable supply chain – and that’s where logistics plays a critical role. We’re proud to support a campaign that not only helps tackle the UK’s growing e‑waste challenge, but also inspires children and families to think differently about the value of the technology sitting unused at home. By connecting schools with responsible recycling pathways at scale, we’re helping to build a more circular economy and a greener future for the next generation.”
Notes to Editors:
How the competition works (2025–26 academic year)
- School sign-up
a. Teachers register their school at JoinThePod.org to take part in the Hidden Treasure
b. Access free campaign packs, assemblies, lessons and pupil-led activity guides. - Bag and drop
a. Families gather unwanted electricals and tech (anything with a plug, battery or cable).
b. Items can be taken to: Currys stores (families receive a £5 “Cash for Trash” voucher when they spend £25+) or one of the other ~30k local drop-off points listed on the RecycleYourElectricals.org. Recycling Locator. - Register and track
a. Anyone can register their drop offs at collection points at HiddenTreasureHunt.org, nominating their school.
b. Each recycling registration earns one Planet Care Point (regardless of the number of items dropped off), updates the national leaderboard in real time, and automatically enters both the registering individual and their nominated school into that term’s prize draw. - Prizes and Rewards
a. Schools and individuals who register their recycling are automatically entered into a prize draw each term. At the end of the summer term, a national leaderboard competition will award major prizes to the top-ranking schools, based on the total Planet Care Points earned by their community.
b. Final leaderboard positions for the academic year 2025/26 will be based on school’s rankings at 12:00 midday BST on the competition close date: 5 June 2026.
Rewards
- Spring Term Prize Draw 2026: 2 schools win £1,000 in tech vouchers, 10 individuals/ families win £100 in vouchers
- Summer Term Leaderboard & Prize Draw 2026
1. 1st place school: £10,000 in tech vouchers
2. 2nd place school: £3,000 in tech vouchers
3. 3rd place school: £2,000 in tech vouchers
4. Plus: 1 school wins £1,000 in tech vouchers (prize draw)
5. And: 10 individuals/families each win £100 in vouchers (prize draw) - Total rewards distributed during the campaign: £20,000
Currys Cash for Trash and Trade In
For more information, visit: https://www.currys.co.uk/services/delivery-installation/recycling.html
Media inquiries
For more information, images or interviews, please contact:
- Wastebuster: [email protected]
- Currys: [email protected]
- Material Focus: [email protected]
- Ecogenesys: [email protected]
- DHL Team at Another Word: [email protected]
Media assets
Media assets can be downloaded from: https://wastebuster.sharepoint.com
URLs
hiddentreasurehunt.org – campaign homepage
jointhepod.org – schools’ campaign platform
https://recycleyourelectricals.org.uk/
Boilerplates:
Wastebuster and The Pod
Wastebuster is a not-for-profit Community Interest Company founded in 2006 that delivers innovative environmental education and behaviour change programmes for children and young people. Wastebuster works with schools, local authorities, and partners across the public and private sectors on themes including waste, recycling, energy, water, biodiversity and climate. Wastebuster’s award-winning schools programme, The Pod, supports educators through curriculum-linked resources and national campaigns including Switch Off Fortnight, Waste Week, Water Week, What’s Under Your Feet? Recycle to Read and The Hidden Treasure Hunt. The Wastebuster/ Pod network includes over 78,000 educators and 24,000 schools across 94 countries, reaching more than four million young people and families each year. Wastebuster is an accredited NGO partner working with the United Nations and supports the delivery of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. https://www.wastebuster.co.uk/ https://www.jointhepod.org/
Currys
Currys plc is a leading omnichannel retailer of technology products and services, operating online and through 702 stores in 6 countries. We Help Everyone Enjoy Amazing Technology, however they choose to shop with us.
In the UK & Ireland we trade as Currys and in the UK we operate our own mobile virtual network, iD Mobile. In the Nordics we trade under the Elkjøp brand. We’re the market leader in all markets, able to serve all households and employing more than 25,000 capable and committed colleagues.
We help everyone enjoy amazing technology. We believe in the power of technology to improve lives, helping people stay connected, productive, fit, healthy, and entertained. We’re here to help everyone enjoy those benefits and with our scale and expertise, we are uniquely placed to do so.
Our full range of services and support makes it easy for our customers to discover, choose, afford and enjoy the right technology to the full. The Group’s operations include one of Europe’s largest technology repair facilities, a sourcing office in Hong Kong and an extensive distribution network, centred on Newark in the UK and Jönköping in Sweden, enabling fast and efficient delivery to stores and homes.
We’re a leader in giving technology a longer life through repair, recycling and reuse. We’re reducing our impact on the environment in our operations and our wider value chain and we aim to achieve net zero emissions by 2040. We offer customers products that help them save energy, reduce waste and save water, and we partner with charitable organisations to bring the benefits of amazing technology to those who might otherwise be excluded.
Material Focus
Material Focus is a not-for-profit organisation whose goal is to stop the nation throwing away or hoarding all their old, small electricals. Material Focus is delivering the UK-wide Recycle Your Electricals campaign. The campaign is revealing the value hidden in electricals and is making it easier for us all to recycle and reuse the small electricals we no longer need by providing more recycling points as well as providing practical information on how households can reuse and recycle. The campaign is funded by producers of electrical appliances which pays for a range of activities, including communications, behaviour change activities, increased recycling projects and research. Ultimately the aim is to support actions that will help the UK increase the levels of reuse and recycling of waste electricals.
Ecogenesys
Ecogenesys (formerly REPIC) is an industry-leading, approved compliance scheme for Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) and Packaging. Founded by producers, for producers, Ecogenesys operates as a not-for-profit, member-owned compliance scheme.
As the UK’s leading WEEE producer compliance scheme, we are actively engaged in leading and shaping the future of extended producer responsibility, both domestically and across Europe. We work on behalf of our members to promote the reuse and recycling of electrical items.
Building on over twenty years of REPIC’s success, Ecogenesys now also supports its valued members and other organisations with additional services, including training and research consultancy, to help navigate the continuously changing landscape of regulation and environmental sustainability.
DHL
DHL is the leading global brand in the logistics industry. Our DHL divisions offer an unrivalled portfolio of logistics services ranging from national and international parcel delivery, e-commerce shipping and fulfillment solutions, international express, road, air and ocean transport to industrial supply chain management. With approximately 400,000 employees in more than 220 countries and territories worldwide, DHL connects people and businesses securely and reliably, enabling global sustainable trade flows. With specialized solutions for growth markets and industries including technology, life sciences and healthcare, engineering, manufacturing & energy, auto-mobility and retail, DHL is decisively positioned as “The logistics company for the world”. DHL is part of DHL Group. The Group generated revenues of approximately 84.2 billion euros in 2024. With sustainable business practices and a commitment to society and the environment, the Group makes a positive contribution to the world. DHL Group aims to achieve net-zero emissions logistics by 2050.