Average UK household has 30 unused electrical items in its drawers, research finds

An average UK household has 30 unused electrical items hoarded in its drawers, research shows.

A recycling charity is urging people to recycle their old cables, smartphones and laptops so the components can be reused.

Material Focus said that about £1 billion worth of precious materials are being wasted as households hoard an average of 20 to 30 goods over a four-year period.

It said UK households were holding on to 880 million unused electrical items, and throwing away 103,000 tons of electricals per year. It claims this equates to £488 million in lost value from raw materials.

A further 343,000 tons of electricals are being lost, stolen or illegally exported, which Material Focus said is akin to £439 million in lost valuable raw materials.

If all of these hoarded items were recycled, the equivalent of 7.98 million tons of CO2 could be saved. This would have the same effect as 3.84 million cars being taken off the road.

Among the top 10 products in our drawers are remote controls, mobile phones and hairdryers.

The group, which runs an electrical recycling campaign, is appealing to British people not to place these unwanted items in the general waste, but to find drop-off recycling points via its website’s postcode search tool.

Scott Butler, the executive director of Material Focus, said: “The amount of electricals that we buy and use have soared in recent years by over a third since 2019, whether it’s the latest kitchen fad tech such as an air fryer to fitness tech and to fast tech, which are cheap small electricals such as mini fans, charging cables, vapes, earphones and ear buds.”

Mr Butler said that when electricals break or become unwanted, too many of them are thrown away or held on to.

Electronic waste on the rise

He added: “This is a significant missed opportunity. With the value of the materials that are inside our electricals increasing by up to 180 per cent over the last four years it has never been more important to not lose that value.

“We can make it easier for more people to reuse and recycle their old and unwanted electricals by offering more and easy-to-access household and retailer collections.”

Mr Butler said that by searching “Recycle Your Electricals” and then typing in your postcode, all the nearest recycling points will be flagged to you.

The findings come after the United Nations reported electronic waste is rising five times faster than documented recycling.