An estimated £16bn of unused technology is gathering dust inside British households.
A new survey quizzed 2,000 adults and found that they had an average of £300 each of gadgets and devices tucked away.
Extrapolated out to the entire population, that equated to millions in unused items, including CD and DVD players, old mobile phones, printers and gaming consoles.
Some people are holding on to items such as Walkmans, Game Boys and even Tamagotchis – digital pets who are presumably no longer in the best of health – dating back to the 90s and beyond.
The reasons for hanging on to these items can vary, with 28% saying that they wanted to pass them on to their children someday.
Around half of the 28% who had an old smartphone lying around said that they were keeping it as a backup in case something happened to their current model.
Around a quarter (24%) of respondents said that they didn’t know how to dispose of technology properly, however.
The research was commissioned by ecoATM, a company that allows people to quickly sell old phones and other gadgets via ATM-style kiosks.
The company obviously has an interest in getting people to clear out their gadget drawers, but the research does highlight a growing problem – that of how to dispose of outdated or unwanted technology.
E-waste increasing by 2 million tonnes every year
The amount of electronic waste (e-waste) generated globally is increasing by at least 2 million tonnes per year and is estimated to reach 120 million tonnes by 2050 if consumers don’t change their habits.
More than half (58%) of respondents did say that they were concerned about e-waste and a similar proportion (55%) had recycled smartphones previously.
A minority of 7% admitted to binning their devices once they were done with them, however.
Tom Enraght-Moony, president international at ecoATM, said that upgrade culture had resulted in a situation where perfectly good technology was going unused in our homes.
He added that it was interesting to learn how many were not aware of appropriate ways to dispose of these items, many of which could be recycled or passed on in a sustainable way.
The 10 most common types of unused tech devices in people’s homes were:
- DVD player
- Smartphone
- Digital camera
- Television
- Laptop
- CD player
- Headphones
- Printer
- Games console
- Tablet computer
Today’s news was brought to you by TD SYNNEX – the UK’s number one solutions distributor.
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