Cash in on your old junk
Recycling unwanted items can be a great way to make some extra money so we've rounded up the best scrappage schemes out there at the moment.
The government's car scrappage scheme has been hitting the headlines for months. However, this isn't the only way you could make money from possessions you no longer need.
Read on to see if you could boost your bank balance by trading in your old junk.
Get paid to upgrade your wheels
The much publicised car scrappage scheme has now been extended until the end of March. This means you have an extra month to get £2,000 off a brand new motor!
The government created the car scrappage scheme in an attempt to boost the failing car industry during the credit crunch. Drivers whose cars are more than 10 years old receive £2,000 off the price of a new vehicle - with half of this money coming from the government and half from the car manufacturer.
At the beginning of this month, there was still enough funding for another 70,000 motorists to benefit. If you act now, you could save yourself a packet.
Earn £800 from your banged up old boiler
In an attempt to lower energy bills and reduce our carbon emissions the government has launched a new boiler scrappage scheme.
If you replace an old inefficient boiler (G-rated or worse) with a modern, energy efficient boiler you could claim back £400 of the cost.
You pay for the new boiler installation up front, and then send a voucher and a copy of your invoice to Energy Saving Trust to reclaim your £400.
However, be aware that there is currently a bit of a backlog due to an initial flurry of applicants so you may need to be patient.
Energy providers npower and British Gas have also launched boiler scrappage schemes, offering homeowners an additional £400 off when they replace a boiler more than 10 years old.
By taking advantage of the government and either the npower and British gas scheme you could claim a whopping £800 of your money back.
Check out Victoria Bischoff's article 'Get paid £800 for your old boiler' to learn more.
Mobile phone money maker
If you plan to purchase a new mobile phone make sure you don't throw out your old model before you've checked to see what you could get for it.
These days there are tons of websites out there, such as Mazuma, Mopay, Love2recycle and Envirophone, that pay cash for old handsets - sometimes even if it is broken.
For example, if you want to recycle your old mobile with Envirophone all you have to do is visit their website, see how much your old model is worth, pop the phone in the free padded envelope provided and sit back to await your payment.
The amount you earn will obviously vary according to the model and condition of your handset so you shouldn't expect a huge payout for a five-year-old brick without a colour screen or camera.
Cash in on cartridges
When your printer cartridge runs out, you'll be making a mistake if you just throw it in the bin.
There a number of websites that will pay you to send in your old cartridges. CashForCartridges.co.uk, for example, pays up to £4.50 per empty ink cartridge.
What's more, you'll be doing the planet a huge favour if you dispose of your cartridges responsibly. Cartridges contain dangerous plastics that can take hundreds of years to decompose in a landfill
Recycling other bits and bobs
Most of us have probably heard of mobile phone recycling but you might be surprised by some of the other items you can recycle. If you have old DVDs, games or CDs cluttering up your home don't just chuck them, find out if you can make some money.
The website Recycling for Cash is a great source of tips on how you can recycle items such iPods and old digital cameras.
One to watch
The success of car scrappage seems to have had a ripple effect.
To help ease the switchover to digital radio planned for 2015, it has been suggested by Digital Radio UK that people will receive a 20% discount on a new digital radio if they trade in their old analogue set.
Although the switchover is planned for 2015, it won't go ahead until 50% of UK radio listeners have gone digital.
If you own one of the country's 100 million analogue radios out there, this scheme could be one to watch.
Did you miss the boat?
As you may remember, there were some fantastic scrappage schemes last year.
Last year, Victoria Bischoff explained how you could make up to £200 by trading in your old TV for a new Sony Bravia LCD at Comet.
Sadly, this offer is no longer running but you never know what could pop up in 2010 so keep your eyes peeled….
£20 million for charity
Every time you finish a can of your favourite fizzy drink, you could help raise money for good causes by recycling the can through the Cash for Cans scheme.
According to Think Cans, recycling every aluminium can sold in the UK could raise more than £20 million for good causes. If you would like to get involved, visit the campaign's website.
What's more, just think how much damage you're doing to the environment if you chuck your cans in an ordinary bin.
Even if you can't boost your bank balance by trading in your old items, it never hurts to get recycling!
**Articles featured on BeatThatQuote.com are for information purposes only and reflect the views of individual writers. Articles are not, and should not be considered as, financial advice. BeatThatQuote.com strongly encourages our readers not to rely solely on information contained within this article/our website, but to conduct their own research and seek independent advice about the financial products they purchase.**
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