Mini-fans bought during UK heatwaves are among the growing number of products fuelling the “fast tech” waste crisis, campaigners have warned. Research recently commissioned by Material Focus, which campaigns for people to recycle their electricals, found that UK consumers bought 7.1 million mini-fans in the last year.
The campaign group also highlighted that Google Trend data shows demand for mini-fans increasing, with searches up 16% in May compared to the year before and overall yearly searches continuing to rise. Demand for fast tech items, which covers cheap electronic items with short lifespans that are thrown away or left unused, continues to increase among UK consumers, Material Focus said.
These products include items like decorative LED lights, light-up toilet seats, rechargeable and chargeable batteries, electric toothbrushes, electric razors, earplugs and charging cables. Research from Opinium showed that annual spend on fast tech has grown from £2.8 billion to £11.6bn between 2023 and 2025, and that 84% of people polled bought fast tech in the last year.
The findings also suggest £7.9 million light-up toilet seats, mini karaoke machines and LED balloons have been sold during the last 12 months. But the equivalent of 55% of items bought each year are now binned or tucked away, forgotten in a drawer, the research indicates.
And nearly 22 million items of fast tech, containing valuable metals like lithium, copper and gold, are estimated to remain unused after just one month from being purchased. Consumer expert Professor Cathrine Jansson-Boyd, from Anglia Ruskin University, warned that fast tech could be growing at a similar rate to fast fashion, with a “similar negative impact” on the environment as it ends up in landfill.
“Like fast fashion, we can change things for the better though,” she said. “That starts by making sure we don’t see these items as disposable, being more conscious of what we buy in the first place, and at the very least, we recycle fast tech when we’re finished with it.”
Scott Butler, executive director of Material Focus, warned that fast tech items are not disposable and should not be binned. “When the novelty’s worn off, just make sure you visit our recycling locator, where you’ll find how quick and easy it is to make sure tech doesn’t end up in bins,” he said.
Andrea Cheong, fashion sustainability advocate and creator of the Mindful Monday Method, who is working with Material Focus, said: “Thanks to fast fashion, we’ve seen the quality of our clothes decline over the last few years. Similarly, the durability of our electricals has dropped too, thanks to fast tech.
“The unrealistic, low prices of fast tech encourages impulse purchases and makes them feel easy to dispose of. This all adds up.”
Prof Jansson-Boyd urged people to consider the impact before buying a fast tech item, check if it can be bought second hand, avoid being seduced by discounts and offers, use repair services such as that offered by Curry’s and recycle items you are no longer using.
UK residents can find their nearest drop-off point thanks to Material Focus’s Recycle Your Electricals locator, which maps more than 30,000 recycling points.
