Fast tech: Handheld fan sales take off as waste soars
Words by Consumer Producer Rachael Allison
As temperatures rise, so too does the UK's obsession with handheld fans - but experts are warning that these cooling gadgets could be harming the environment.
New research from Material Focus - a charity behind the Recycle Your Electricals campaign - found that Brits purchased a staggering 7.1 million mini-fans in the last year alone.
Demand for the devices is climbing fast, with Google searches for mini-fast up 16% in May compared to the same time last year.
But what happens when the sun sets?
A staggering 3.4 million handheld fans are already sitting unused or have been binned - part of a wider issue known as FastTech: small, cheap electrical items that are increasingly treated as disposable.
Over a billion FastTech items are bought in the UK each year, double the number from 2023, with over half ending up discarded.
Consumer expert Professor Cathrine Jansson-Boyd draws comparisons to fast fashion: 'FastTech is growing as quickly as fast fashion and is going to have a similar negative impact, as it ends up in landfill and has a detrimental environmental impact.'
But, despite the swell in consumption habits, there is still optimism that the cycle can be broken by shoppers.
Charlotte Blockley, a TikTok tech reviewer, said: 'I don't think people should be disposing of these because you could be using them year after year.
'Some of mine I've had since 2023 - there is no need to dispose of them after you've used them for one summer.
'Just pop them in a drawer, a cupboard or whatever, and get them out the next summer.'
Material Focus advises people looking to throw products away to head to one of the UK's 30,000 drop-off points for electrical recycling.
Find your nearest recycling drop-off at Recycle Your Electricals.
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