ASK
Does your unwanted tech contain batteries or bulbs? Remove these before recycling. It’s your responsibility to remove personal data from smart devices and computers, so remember to take out memory cards and delete your data.
What is FastTech?
Small electricals that are cheap to buy and easy to throw away are becoming the fastest growing e-waste stream. Here’s why we need to put the brakes on FastTech going to landfill.
The quick guide to FastTech
‘FastTech’ refers to everyday small electricals – from headphones to cables, decorative lights to mini fans and even single-use vapes. These items are cheap and often have a short lifespan. This means they may be seen as ‘disposable’ even when they’re not designed to be. It’s Fast Fashion for the world of technology and, like the clothing industry, it has huge environmental and social impacts.
What’s the problem with FastTech?
The hard reality of easy-come easy-go electricals
FastTech is our fastest-growing electrical waste
From mini-fans, disposable vapes and USB sticks to novelty chargers, decorative lights and handheld vacuum cleaners – we buy one piece of FastTech in the UK every 16 seconds, and bin 90% of those gadgets in the blink of an eye.
Each piece of FastTech binned is resources wasted
All electricals, even small inexpensive items such as cables, contain precious materials – and if we bin them they’re lost forever. That’s a big challenge for the environment and our economy.
FastTech is just the tip of a (very big) iceberg
An astonishing 471 million pieces of FastTech end up in UK landfill each year. They’re part of over 100,000 tonnes of e-waste we throw away annually, and we still have a staggering 880 million gadgets gathering dust at home.
But we’re starting to turn the tide
Like anything else with a plug, battery or cable, FastTech can be recycled. And more and more people are discovering how easy it is to donate or recycle theirs. Find your nearest drop-off point using our handy locator.
How to slow the FastTech tide
Once you’ve decided whether to recycle or pass on your unwanted tech, preparing your electricals is as easy as ABC
BAG IT
Find a bag that you can use to store all your old electricals until you can go to the recycling centre – or until collection day, if you have one.
CHECK
Check our easy recycling locator to find your nearest repair, reuse or recycling point. Some councils collect directly from your home. Otherwise keep your electricals in your bag until you can visit a drop-off point.
Electrical recycling locator
WATCH THIS
The world inside your tech
Whether it’s disposable vapes or swanky noise-cancelling headphones – inside all electrical devices are valuable, unseen materials that make them tick. Now eye-popping 3D scans by visual tech pioneers Lumafield reveal the treasure in our gadgets: copper, lithium, stainless steel, gold and more.
By recycling anything with a plug, battery or cable we can recover these materials and turn them into new products – from bicycles to life-saving medical equipment.
What are some examples of FastTech? – and other questions
What are some examples of FastTech?
Some of the FastTech items most likely to be binned include mini speakers, handheld vacuum cleaners and fans, novelty fairy lights and step counters.
There were almost half a billion (471 million) FastTech products sent to landfill last year – we estimate these included 260 million disposable vapes, 26 million cables (enough to go round the Earth five times), 29 million LED, solar and decorative lights, 9.8 million USB sticks, and 4.8 million mini fans. That’s a lot of precious resources going to waste, that could have been recycled into something new.
Is FastTech the new Fast Fashion?
With bells on. FastTech is rivalling Fast Fashion and is causing similar headaches. As with Fast Fashion, people buy small, relatively cheap items (£4 on average per electrical item) that can be seen as ‘disposable’.
Even low-cost electricals contain precious materials and should never be binned. Shockingly, even more FastTech is soon thrown away (90% of the items we buy) than Fast Fashion (30%).
So, just as the trend for recycling and repurposing fashion has grown and grown, we can also get more and more people recycling FastTech, guilt- and fuss-free. Find your nearest reuse and recycling drop-off point using our handy locator.
What are some of the latest trends in electrical waste?
- Soaring sales: Over half a billion small FastTech electricals were sold in the UK in 2022-23 – 16 items every second for a total spend of £2.8 billion.
- Faster than Fast Fashion: It’s estimated that 90% of FastTech is thrown away compared to 30% of Fast Fashion.
- Half a billion bits and pieces: ‘FastTech’ is now the UK’s fastest growing e-waste stream, with 471 million items binned in the past year.
- Why we do it: The average UK adult buys nine FastTech items a year for a range of reasons – from replacing a broken item (39% of UK adults) or as a fun novelty (8%).
- Recycling is getting to work: 60% of people say they regularly recycle their electricals, up from 52% in 2021. And the total weight of electrical items thrown away has decreased by 34% since 2017.
How do I dispose of broken electricals?
Anything with a plug, battery or cable can be donated, repaired or recycled. And with more than 16,000 electrical recycling drop-off points around the UK, finding one near you has never been easier – check our handy online locator for your nearest.
What should I do with electronics I no longer use?
Think about making yourself some money or making someone else happy: donate your unwanted tech to charity, sell it or bag it up and recycle. Whatever you do, don’t throw electricals in the bin or shove them in a cupboard and forget about them.
