16 tech items were thrown away every second in the UK in 2022 - Interesting Engineering

16 tech items were thrown away every second in the UK in 2022
16 tech items were thrown away every second in the UK in 2022These items could be recycled for crucial elements.Loukia PapadopoulosPublished: Oct 15, 2023 09:14 AM ESTinnovationRepresentational image of FastTech products.hxyume/iStock Get a daily digest of the latest news in tech, science, and technology, delivered right to your mailbox. Subscribe now.By subscribing, you agree to our Terms of Use and Policies You may unsubscribe at any time.UK recycling not-for-profit Material Focus reported this week that in the past year alone, more than half a billion small electrical products (called FastTech) were bought—16 every second. Approximately all these items (about 471 million)—including 260 million disposable vapes, 26 million cords, 29 million LED, solar, and decorative lights, 9.8 million USB sticks, 4.8 million mini fans, and more—end up being discarded every year with the UK losing out on the precious elements within them and the opportunity to recycle them into new items. Purchasing and discarding headaches“FastTech is seriously rivalling Fast Fashion, and is causing similar headaches. People should think carefully about buying some of the more frivolous FastTech items in the first place. But as FastTech items are quite cheap and small, people may not realize 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,” said Scott Butler, Executive Director, Material Focus. See Also Related International E-Waste Day to focus on 'invisible e-waste' New solution for e-waste: repurpose devices into processors The Solution to Our E-Waste Problem? Repair, Don’t Waste “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 FastTech, guilt and fuss-free.”According to the organization, the average UK adult purchases nine FastTech products annually, of which eight are discarded (90% of purchases). But this need not be so!Material Focus is informing UK residents that there are over 16,000 recycling points in the nation for FastTech items and reminding them that anything with a plug can be recycled.New uses, new productsThis is crucial as any electrical item's important components can readily find a second use through recycling to create new products with a startling variety of purposes, including wind turbines, medical equipment, playground toys and electric automobiles. Material Focus added that as a society, the UK has grown accustomed to recycling large electrical devices like washing machines, refrigerators, and TVs. However, there are currently a staggering amount of little unused electricals in all rooms and beneath beds in every average UK home. The most probable items to be laying unused in households across the nation are cables, mobile phones, and headphones/earphones. Two to three mobile phones, four to five charging wires, and two to three remote controllers are laying around collecting dust in every typical UK home which results in the permanent loss of the priceless components they contain like gold, aluminium, lithium, and copper.The good news is that recycling or donating anything with plugs, batteries, or cables has never been simpler or more accessible. So get to your nearest recycling location available here and make the most out of your unused FastTech items. HomeInnovationAdd Interesting Engineering to your Google News feed.Add Interesting Engineering to your Google News feed.SHOW COMMENT (1) For You Astrophysicists predict a hidden planet in the Kuiper Belt"Stalker-proof AirTags a lie!": Terrorized victims allege negligenceCan a rocket sound kill you?Scientists discover new strawberry-like sea creature with 20 armsThe real impact of blue light on eye health and sleepNew AI tool successfully detects and classifies supernovaIs AI better than your doctor? A new study tests the ability of AI to get the right diagnosis9 examples of when AI went haywireThe future of medicine could lie in organoid researchHow bone trauma reveals the patterns of violence in ancient history Job Board