‘It's cheap but it's not disposable': why fast tech is a growing waste problem

The Guardian

a day ago

It is cheap, often poorly made, and usually ends up in the bin or buried among the other knick-knacks, takeaway menus and birthday candles in the kitchen drawer.
Known as 'fast-tech', these low-cost electronics are increasingly common – from mini-fans and electric toothbrushes, to portable chargers and LED toilet seats, often bought for just a few pounds online.
But behind the bargain price is a growing problem: many of these items are difficult to repair, not recycled and quickly discarded. Electronic waste is one of the world's fastest-growing waste streams, and experts say fast tech is playing an increasingly significant role.
In the UK, it is estimated that more than 1.14bn of these small electronic gadgets (including vapes) are bought a year and about half (589m) are disposed of in that same time, which is equivalent to 19 a second, according to Material Focus, the organisation behind the Recycle Your Electricals campaign.
'We've had fast food, we've had fast fashion, and we're now in the age of fast tech,' says Scott Butler, the executive director of Material Focus. 'We're not moralist against technology, but what we are concerned about is the volume of low-quality, cheap, flimsy products that are flooding the market, which end up binned or unused.'
Fast tech is seen as disposable by more than a third of Britons, according to a survey, and this is, in part, due to the low price point, Butler says. '[It] might be cheap but it's not disposable. In fact, anything with a plug, battery or cable should never be binned. They're full of useful metals and can be used again,' he adds.
Butler highlights 'fad' fast tech as a key issue – cheap items that are bought at certain times of year or for particular occasions, such as mini-fans as the UK warms up or light-up Christmas jumpers. About 7.1m mini-fans were bought in the UK last year and more than 3.5m have already been discarded or forgotten in drawers in that same period.
'We just had a heatwave. I'm sure the sale of mini-fans has boomed during that period. There's nothing wrong in trying to keep yourself cool, but we urge people, if you do need those things, try to buy the best version of it that you can so that it has a much better chance of lasting more than a summer,' he said.
Laura Young, an environmental scientist and campaigner, says fast tech represents a new kind of environmental threat – not just because of the potentially toxic chemicals many contain, but because of the sheer volume and disposability.
'We have never had throwaway technology like this before,' she says. 'And I think people maybe just genuinely don't realise that there are electronic components inside of a lot of these tiny devices.
'With vapes, a lot of people who use them were like, 'there's a battery in there?', and they'd never thought. But actually, why would you have thought there's a battery in it? You can't see inside it.
Sign up to Down to Earth
The planet's most important stories. Get all the week's environment news - the good, the bad and the essential
after newsletter promotion
'All of our electronics, your toaster, your kettle, your washing machine, your laptop, your iPad, your phone, all of them either sit plugged into the wall or are rechargeable. There was no disposable technology. So I think it's right that you would never assume that anything you're being sold is a disposable technology, because that's not normal,' she says.
And while it is unlikely the amount of fast tech on the market will decline any time soon, Butler says it is crucial to change how we think about it. 'Ultimately these things are sold because people buy them. If people didn't buy them, then obviously they wouldn't be on the market.
'Just be a bit more mindful about what you buy, how you use it, and what you do with it when you no longer need it. Never bin it when it no longer works,' he says, urging people to instead collect their electricals and find their nearest recycling point using the locator online.
There is also a push for better repair, reuse and borrowing options. Young points to community initiatives such as repair cafes and tool libraries that allow people to borrow items, often for a fraction of the cost of buying it new.
'I'm signed up to a tool library. I don't buy DIY equipment any more.' Tackling fast tech requires 'thinking differently', she says, and not thinking 'I have to own everything' or making unnecessary impulse purchases.