Scrappage schemes are usually run by the government in order to deliver inducements for people to trade in their old equipment. The incentives can be money towards a new purchase of the unit or it could be cash in exchange for bringing an old unit in for disposal. These types of schemes are extremely popular as a lot more people are increasingly becoming environmentally conscious and want to do whatever they can to preserve the environment. Some of the very popular schemes which were operated by the government in the United Kingdom include the window scrappage scheme, the boiler scrappage scheme and the car scrappage scheme.

The way it works usually is that the customer will have to qualify that they are eligible for the scheme. It can also be traded in for a brand new unit. If the unit fits the criteria and is eligible, then the company may give the consumer some cash - usually a set amount of money - in the form of a deduction towards a better and much more eco-friendly version of that product. The government will sometimes match the amount that the company is giving to the customer. It can be the full amount or part of the amount of money that was offered to the customer. The unit is taken in by the company which is then repurposed or destroyed.

Glass and Glazing Federation with Anglican Home Improvements, leaders in the energy efficient windows petitioned the government to develop a windows scrappage scheme. Although there has been no response from the government, Anglican Home Improvements went ahead in October 2013 and started a scrappage scheme for windows. Anglican Home Improvements had a similar scheme to this that they ran in 2009. They are the first major company to run a windows scrappage scheme.

In 2010, British Gas and the government agreed to give credit towards a new boiler if they brought the old one in at the time of buying a new one. It only ran for a few months because the threshold of 125,000 homes had been furnished. This served the purpose of recycling old units and installing new units into the homes.

The car scrappage scheme ran in 2009 and was very simple. If you scrapped your car and it was built in 1999 or earlier, you would receive a discount on the new vehicle. This was later increased to cars built in 2000 or earlier. The purpose of the was to decrease the damage to the environment by aging cars and also give the car industry a boost. It increased the safety of the vehicles and overall efficiency of the cars but the jury is still out on whether it really helped the environment at all.