How and where to recycle your electricals Love Your Tech for Longer: Buying Smart, Repair and Reuse

The average UK home contains 31 devices that are rarely or never used, and three unused devices for every one in regular use. Despite this mountain of unused devices growing in our homes, demand for cheap “FastTech” (novelty gadgets, mini fan, disposable vapes, etc.) has exploded — with over 1.14 billion FastTech items purchased in the UK each year, and 11 million being discarded weekly.

This pattern leads to soaring waste and resource loss, and increases the risk of dangerous fires when items containing batteries are incorrectly disposed of.

Instead, you can:

Buy smarter and less often

Avoid Fast Tech and buy electronic devices that work well, last a long time, and which are repairable. This means that you’re likely to need to replace them as frequently. When shopping for new devices:

• Choose durable, repairable devices
• Avoid impulse buys — especially FastTech
• Consider high‑quality second‑hand tech instead of buying brand new
• Borrow or hire instead of buying if you only need the item for a short time. Tool libraries, repair cafés, community lending schemes may be able to help, and there are businesses that hire electrical equipment too.

Keep your existing tech for longer (repairing & upgrading)

Before replacing a device, consider:

• Battery replacements
• Software resets or updates
• Memory upgrades

This can revive many phones, tablets, and laptops for a fraction of the cost and environmental impact of buying new.

Community repair cafés can help diagnose and fix issues.

If your device can’t be repaired, do consider if it needs to be replaced at all. If a replacement is necessary, choosing a refurbished or second-hand device could save money, reduces the environmental impact of your device, and supports the circular economy.

Rehome the devices you no longer need

Even old and unwanted devices may still have value to someone else.

Options include:

• Selling online – Recycle Your Electricals has a useful guide to prepping your device for sale, price estimates, and a list of sales platforms
• Trading in at retailers – Check your preferred retailer to see if they offer incentives.
• Donating to charities that refurbish tech for people in need. You’ll find a list of charity donation schemes at: https://recycleyourelectricals.org.uk/donate-electrical-goods/

Prior to rehoming smart devices, ensure that you have saved copies of any important information, documents or photos they contain, remove any memory or SIM cards and ensure that your personal and private data stored on the device has been destroyed so it can’t be retrieved. Advice on destroying data without destroying the device can be found on the Recycle Your electricals website