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How often have you thrown away old headphones without a second thought? Or chucked a frayed charging cable in the trash?
Thousands of Brits bin unwanted or outdated technology, completely unaware that a lot of it can be recycled.
The phrase ‘Fast Tech’ has now been coined to identify repeat landfill offenders, including headphones, cables, mini fans and single-use vapes.
These items often have a short lifespan and cost, on average, £4. This means they may be seen as ‘disposable’, even when they’re not designed to be.
This emerging issue is the tip of the iceberg of a bigger challenge of electrical waste in the UK, with the valuable materials contained inside these items – gold, aluminium and lithium – lost forever when thrown away.
New research by Material Focus – released as part of the Recycle Your Electricals campaign – has revealed how Fast Tech could soon outstrip Fast Fashion in terms of the amount sent to landfill.
Experts have found that Brits threw away nearly half a billion small ‘Fast Tech’ electricals last year – that’s 16 items every second.
Joanne Batty is a self-proclaimed technology lover from Leeds, and admits she was part of the problem until recently.
Joanne is making amends after years of throwing out her technology without thinking (Picture: Simon Vine Photography)
Like many Brits, she was allowing unwanted items to gather dust and clutter cupboards. She didn’t realise the future her battered phones, spent toothbrushes and broken laptops could still hold.
Looking back, the 52-year-old feels a sense of ‘eco-guilt’ over the wasted opportunity.
She told Metro: ‘It’s totally mind blowing and I don’t think any of us like to admit how much we’ve thrown away.
‘It never felt right to do it, but I just didn’t realise there was another option.
‘We threw away so many cables – endless chargers for laptops and mobile phones went in the bin. New versions of phones or laptops would come out and we’d just get rid of stuff to get rid of clutter.
‘And with kids, things can break or get damaged. So, naturally if you aren’t aware, just think the best place for it is the bin.’
The likes of phones, chargers and powerbanks could all be recycled (Picture: Getty Images/iStockphoto)
It was also more unconventional items – such as her children’s fairylights, that Joanne threw away without thinking.
After being made aware of Material Focus’s research, she realised there was a recycling centre just ten minutes from her home.
With her two daughters, aged 11 and 9, the trio enjoy popping over and feeling like they’re making a difference.
Joanne added: ‘To know that the unloved items can have renewed purpose and become valuable items for a second life is so rewarding.
‘When it’s as easy as popping to a recycling centre round the corner, there’s no excuse for me to not make the effort and clear out my tech – my cupboards will be grateful for the clear out too. It’s like donating batteries at the supermarket, once you become aware and do it once – it becomes the norm.
‘I think recycling electricals should be something encouraged and taught in schools. My kids like coming with me to the recycling centre now and having the feeling that they’re making a difference.
Joanne with her daughters Jasmine and Emma (Picture: Simon Vine Photography)
‘Little things can make a big change.’
Material Focus researchers also found that a staggering 880 million household electricals are lying unused in UK homes. That’s a 67% increase compared to when the research was last conducted three years ago. The average household now has 30 items gathering dust.
In each average home, there are four or five charging cables, two or three mobiles phones and two or three remote controls cluttering up cupboards.
The valuable materials contained in any electrical item can easily have a second life through donation, or being recycled into new items with a surprising range of uses, such as wind turbines, life-saving medical devices or even children’s playground equipment and electric vehicles.
While Brits have warmed to the idea of recycling large electrical items – such as televisions and washing machines – many remain unaware that the same option is available for tech which is smaller in stature.
This week’s awareness day aims to ensure Fast Tech and anything else with a plug, battery or cable doesn’t go to landfill.
To highlight the vast amount of valuable materials that are hidden inside electrical items that are being thrown away, the not for profit commissioned and worked with visual tech pioneer, Lumafield, on a series of fascinating 3-D CT scan images and video clips.
Your tech is brimming with items that could be recycled (Picture: Recycle Your Electricals/Lumafield/Getty)
The images show the surprising amount of valuable materials contained in small electricals, from copper to lithium to stainless steel.
Lumafield’s pioneering Neptune industrial CT scanner captured hundreds of X-ray images of each product from different angles, and its Voyager software reconstructed these images into 3D visual models that reveal both external and internal details.
Scott Butler, executive director of Material Focus, which runs the Recycle Your Electricals campaign, said: ‘Fast Tech is seriously rivalling Fast Fashion, and is causing similar headaches. People should think carefully about buying some of the more frivolous Fast Tech items in the first place.
‘But as Fast Tech items are quite cheap and small, people may not realise that they contain valuable materials and will just pop them in the bin, meaning we lose everything inside them instead of recycling them into something new. We want to get the message across that anything with a plug, battery or cable can be recycled and there’s somewhere near you to do it.
‘The scale of the issue is huge, but there’s an easy solution – just as the trend for recycling and repurposing fashion has grown and grown, we want to encourage the nation to recycle Fast Tech, guilt and fuss-free.’
The study was conducted by Material Focus as part of the Recycle Your Electricals campaign to mark International E-Waste Day.
The day aims to engage individuals, retailers, local authorities, businesses and communities to participate in this year’s campaign by encouraging everyone to recycle their electricals.
To find out more, click here
How do you recycle your tech?
From council recycling centres to libraries, a variety of local places will welcome your old electricals. Some councils even collect from your home.
There’s a handy recycling locator to see where your nearest centre might be.
When you buy a new electrical item, check if the retailer or manufacturer will recycle your old electricals.
Apple stores actually provide a trade-in system where people can swap their devices or cables for credit which can be used for the purchase of a new device.
You can also make a bit of cash by selling your unwanted tech on Amazon, eBay or musicMagpie.
That’s not all, some charities also accept electrical items in good condition that they can sell, or pass on. Find your nearest drop-off point.
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at [email protected].
For more stories like this, check our news page.
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Brits throw away 16 bits of tech every second.
