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We have cables all around us that we have never used before! But which ones should you keep and which ones can be thrown away? The following is how to organize cables and connectors.

If you have a drawer or box in your home filled with cables for gadgets that you no longer use, you are definitely not the only one. Less than a third of Britons admit that they don't know how to deal with bends and connectors that are no longer needed. With the advancement of technology and the replacement of gadgets, once common ports and plugs are no longer used, this is a problem that is unlikely to disappear anytime soon.

But streamlining your cable collection is not always that simple. What if you accidentally throw something away and find that you need it in a few weeks or months? If this resonates, then it’s time to take an inventory. Use our guide to determine which cables to keep and which cables you can safely get rid of.

Don't forget that anything with a plug can be recycled. Some councils accept adapters and cables in roadside recycling. Even if yours does not accept them, local recycling centers will usually take them away with small equipment. Recycling your appliances can help you find a local cable and wire recycling point.

Old mobile chargers usually last longer than the phones they came with, and can’t always be used when you upgrade to a new phone. Even if the connector of the old cable does fit your new phone, you should avoid mixing and matching because the cable may provide the wrong voltage. When the useful life of a gadget is over, you’d better dispose of it and its charger through the electrical recycling program.

There are exceptions. If you have several iPhones or iPads released since 2012, please continue to use the Lightning data cable. Before 2012, iPods and early iPhones used cables with wider connectors (called 30-pin dock connectors), and no new products were made for this. Therefore, unless you are still using them, these can be recycled.

Nowadays, non-Apple smartphones and tablets are usually equipped with a USB-C cable that has a connector shaped like an 8.5 x 2.5 mm rice grain, or a connector on each end. Keep these, because they are also becoming more and more common on laptops, used for charging and connecting devices such as keyboards and mice. The whole of Europe (with the support of European Commission legislation) established USB-C as the default charging cable for smartphones, tablets, cameras, headsets, portable speakers and handheld game consoles, which may affect devices sold in Europe as well as the United Kingdom.

Leading smartphone manufacturers are still using lightning cables (left) and USB-C (right). USB-C will soon become a universal charging solution in Europe.

Many gadgets (such as printers, e-readers, and hard drives) use the USB version to connect to the computer, so it is worth using some USE cables renamed USB-C.

To avoid accumulating more cables when upgrading your keyboard, mouse, or speakers, consider using a cable-less Bluetooth device. When buying a printer, look for a printer connected to your wireless network to further reduce cable clutter. However, do not discard all Ethernet cables: if there is a problem with your Wi-Fi.

The old USB-B cable (left) is still convenient when connected to the printer, while the Ethernet cable (right) is useful for accessing and repairing the wireless router.

TVs, DVD players, set-top boxes, streaming media sticks, and new computers all have standard HDMI sockets—usually full-size standard HDMI with the same plugs on both ends, so you can easily mix and match between devices . Stick to it as much as possible—especially any marked high speeds, as they can be used with higher-definition "4K" (or better) TVs.

A large number of old cables, including VGA, Scart, S-Video, and composite video, can be recycled unless they are still plugged in and used, as they are less common in newer products.

Old-fashioned 3.5mm audio cables can be used to connect some older car radios, but since most new phones don’t have a headphone jack, it’s not worth hanging on it "just in case". Knotted plug-in earphones will not be tucked behind the drawer, because future mobile phones will almost certainly be equipped with Bluetooth or other wireless technologies.

Keep the high-speed HDMI cable (left) so that you can add various streaming options to the multi-input TV, but you may be able to safely recycle any VGA cable you don't use frequently (right).