There are millions of old Sky boxes collecting dust in British homes, so we’ll show you how to recycle or sell yours.
A recent poll by Uswitch found that 42% of British homes have an unused Sky box in storage. Additionally, one in seven households has stored two or more obsolete boxes.
This collection was made when there was a lot of confusion about how to get rid of old technology and how manufacturers could help us be more environmentally friendly.
Sixty percent of consumers in the same survey said Internet service providers (ISPs) should do more to help the environment.
It’s not surprising that so many houses possess obsolete routers. A new ISP contract or an upgrade will make an old router useless for many people.
As part of their contracts, some ISPs now lend customers Sky boxes and ask for them back when they are no longer needed. In the past, many customers did not have to return their old routers.
Routers, on the other hand, can’t be thrown away with regular trash because they are WEEE (waste from electrical and electronic equipment). There are programs set up by broadband service providers to help you reuse and recycle.
Why Is Sky Equipment Recycling Important?
Electrical items should not be thrown away with other trash because improper disposal can be bad for the environment and for people’s health.
Also, some pieces can still be used, so throwing them away wastes valuable resources we could use again.
By collecting old electrical and electronic devices one by one, we can make sure they get to a place where they can be treated by experts and looked at to see if they can be reused or recycled, as required by environmental laws.
We ensure that they are discarded in an environmentally responsible manner. If a Sky product should not be discarded, it will be marked with a bin with its lid crossed out. This means that it needs to be sent back to be used again or recycled along the way.
Sky Boxes
Uswitch said that Sky was the “worst offender” when it came to telling users how to get rid of their old equipment.
For clients joining after March 2020, Sky Broadband equipment is a loan that must be returned when it is no longer needed, such as when you upgrade or reduce your subscription, switch to a new broadband provider, or if your equipment breaks.
By visiting Sky’s website, owners of obsolete technology can find out how to return or recycle their products.
If you own additional Sky equipment that cannot be disposed of with regular household trash, you can send it to Sky for free.
Is Your Data Vulnerable When Sent For Recycling?
Before selling, giving away, or recycling your Sky Box, you should reset it to factory settings. This is a must if you want to keep your data safe from the next person who uses the router.
It’s easy to view your router as a simple gateway to the internet, but it’s actually a computer you use every day and an information bottleneck that all of your home’s internet-connected devices communicate with.
These boxes do not monitor users in the same manner that computers and web browsers do. But they do contain sensitive information, especially if you have set up logging configurations, like a kid lock, to help you keep track of network traffic.
Manufacturers provide instructions on how to decommission your router, which you should adhere to. Typically, this will include a series of steps.
The following data is stored on your router:
- Admin password.
- configuration files contain IP addresses.
- Parental control settings, including a log of visited websites if enabled.
WEEE Directive
The Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive (WEEE Directive) is EU law.
It tries to lessen the damage that old electrical and electronic equipment does to the environment by reducing the amount that goes to landfills and encouraging the reuse and recycling of old devices.
One way to do this is to require manufacturers of electrical and electronic equipment to pay for its collection, treatment, and recovery, and to require dealers of electrical and electronic equipment to let customers return unwanted equipment for free.
Alternatives To Their Recycling
You can get rid of old electronics even if you don’t have a bag with postage paid on it, but you’ll have to pay for the cost of getting them there.
The best course of action is to bring your router and any other obsolete electronics to a local recycling center.
Recycle Your Electricals has made a website that shows where the closest WEEE center is. There is also the prospect of repurposing obsolete technology.
