Homes hoarding 184 million old gadgets worth almost £7 billion
Households are hoarding 184 million pieces of unwanted tech[1] worth almost £7 billion[2]
One in seven have a gadget over ten years old[3], with nearly a million still storing a fax machine and close to four million having a video player[4]
A fifth of people (19%) say they are holding onto old devices due to concerns over personal data, and one in six (17%) for sentimental reasons[5]
Homes have 35 million old mobile phones stashed away worth more than £1 billion if sold or traded-in[2]
Consumers have received £285 for an iPhone X when selling on auction sites like eBay, but only £162 from trade-ins with some mobile providers[6]
Apple devices hold their value best, with an iPhone falling just 38% in a year, compared to 71% for once top-end Samsung devices[7]
Uswitch.com urges consumers to consider making better use of old tech and is supporting the Recycle Your Electricals campaign, which is calling on UK households to stop throwing away and hoarding their small old electricals.
Our homes hold a staggering 184 million pieces of out-of-date tech[1] with a value of more than £7 billion[2], according to research by Uswitch.com, the comparison and switching service.
The average household has seven unused gadgets, with almost one in three (28%) hanging onto old laptops, and a similar proportion storing out-of-date TVs (27%) and digital cameras (27%). More than three million are still holding onto old brick-style phones popular in the early to mid-90s[1].
The nation’s unwanted laptops are worth an estimated £2 billion, while spare televisions could fetch £900 million, digital cameras £2 billion, and DVD players could bring in £133 million[2].
One in seven (15%) have held onto an old gadget for more than ten years[3], with nearly a million homes still hoarding a fax machine and almost four million having a video (VHS) player collecting dust[4].
Nearly two fifths of consumers (39%) say they are holding on to the unwanted tech in case it becomes useful in the future, while almost a quarter (23%) are too lazy to throw it out. About eight million people (19%) say that they haven’t got rid of old gadgets because they are worried about personal data stored on them[5].
Meanwhile, more than a fifth of people (21%) don’t know how to recycle the device properly, and one in six people (17%) say it’s because the tech has sentimental value to them[5].
Among the piles of old gadgets are 35 million mobile phones, of which 22 million are smartphones worth an estimated £1 billion[2].
Auction sites like eBay are often the best place to sell old tech. By using eBay, consumers would receive £285 on average for a pre-owned but fully working iPhone X, whereas using an online marketplace like MusicMagpie yields £220. Trading-in an old device with a mobile network provider resulted in some of the poorest returns, with Three offering only £162 for the same handset[6].
Table: Value of an iPhone X from various buyers
| Vendor | Price |
|---|---|
| eBay | £285.33 |
| Music Magpie | £220 |
| Carphone Warehouse | £180 |
| O2 | £170.25 |
| EE | £164 |
| Three | £162 |
Source: Uswitch.com
In general, Apple handsets hold their value best. The average resale value for a once top of the range iPhone dropped only 38% over the course of a year. At the other end of the scale, the popular Samsung A5 fell by a whopping 71% in 12 months[7].
When buying new tech, only one in six consumers (14%) consider how recyclable the device is, and just one in seven (13%) think about the environmental impact of making the gadget. These considerations fell way behind other options such as how long the device will last (63%) and how well a gadget holds value over its lifetime (18%)[8].
Uswitch.com is urging consumers to consider donating their old mobile phones to Recycle Your Electricals, which ensures that the valuable metals in each phone are reused. The organisation also helps you locate your nearest recycling centre to dispose of your unwanted electronics.
Ru Bhikha, telecoms expert at Uswitch.com, comments: “Millions of us are hoarding old, unwanted tech that could be worth a small fortune to its owner, or recycled to reuse the precious metals inside.
“Mobile phones, laptops, games consoles, cameras and TVs all hold a lot of value and can be exchanged for cash with minimal effort.
“Many of us have a habit for upgrading our phone and holding onto our old one in case they become useful at a later date. They often end up collecting dust when they could benefit somebody else or help reduce the impact of waste on the environment.”
Scott Butler, Executive Director of Material Focus, the organisation behind the Recycle Your Electricals campaign, said: “Discarded electricals are one of the fastest-growing sources of waste.
“Many everyday electricals such as mobile phones, TVs, laptops, and baby monitors contain small amounts of precious metals that can be extracted and given new life if they are recycled.
“Recycling your old tech is not only good for the environment, but there is also a huge amount of value in unwanted electricals – whether you sell them so that they can be reused, donated so that someone else in need can benefit, or recycled.
“If you’re having a clear-out, remember that anything with a plug, battery or cable can be recycled. You can find your nearest recycling or donation drop off point by visiting the recycle your electricals website.”
Find out how much you could save a year with Uswitch.com here.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Rory Stoves
Phone: 020 3872 5613
Email: rory.stoves@uswitch.com
Twitter: @UswitchPR
Notes to Editors
Opinium surveyed a sample of 2,000 UK adults from 18th to 23rd March 2021. Results were weighted to reflect a nationally representative criteria.
1. Respondents were asked ‘How many of each of these gadgets that are not used, do you currently have in your home?’ The average amount of unused gadgets that respondents hold on to is 6.7 pieces of technology. 6.7 x 27,600,000 UK households = 184,920,000. The average amount of unused mobile phones found in homes is 1.3. 1.3 x 27,600,000 UK households = 35,880,000 unused mobile phones in the UK.
2. Respondents were asked ‘Do you have, any of the following devices in your home that you / no one in your household no longer use?’ 39% said ‘Full-screen smartphones (dated from 2007 to present) – i.e. iPhone’. 28% said ‘laptop’. 27% said ‘Television’. 27% said ‘Digital camera’. 26% said ‘DVD player’. The average number of each of these devices per UK household = 0.8, 0.5, 0.4, 0.3, 0.3 respectively.
For each of these devices, researchers checked the sold price of ten eBay auctions from 31/03/21 to 01/04/21. Items had to have received at least one bid, and were listed as ‘used’. The highest and lowest prices were ignored, then an average was taken of the eight remaining prices. Mobile phone = £65.77. Laptop = £149.22. Television = £82.80. Digital camera = £287.95. DVD player = £16.07.
0.8 mobile phones per UK household x 27,600,000 UK households x £65.77 = £1.45 billion.
0.5 laptops per UK household x 27,600,000 UK households x £149.22 = £2.06 billion.
0.4 televisions per UK household x 27,600,000 UK households x £82.80 = £914 million
0.3 digital cameras per UK household x 27,600,000 UK households x £287.95 = £2.38 billion.
0.3 DVD players per UK household x 27,600,000 UK households x £16.07 = £133 million.
Total = £6.9 billion.
3. Respondents were asked ‘What’s the longest that any of these pieces of technology has been left unused in your home for?’, 227 respondents out of 1,546 people who have unused gadgets in their home answered the question with a response above 10 years. 227 as a percentage of 1,546 = 15% (one in seven).
4. Respondents were asked ‘Do you have, any of the following devices in your home that you / no one in your household no longer use?’, 3% of UK households said they had a ‘Fax machine’, 3% of 27,600,000 UK households = 828,000. 14% of UK households said they had a ‘Video (VHS) cassette player’, 14% of 27,600,000 UK households = 3,864,000.
5. Respondents were asked ‘You mentioned you have unused tech in your house. Why have you kept hold of this?’ 19% of people with unused tech in their home said ‘I’m worried there’s personal data on there’, 17% of respondents said ‘It's got sentimental value’. 21% said ‘I don’t know how to recycle it properly’.
6. The prices of an iPhone X 256gb version in fully working condition was monitored on eBay, the average selling price across three monitored devices was £285.33. The same criteria was specified when comparing on Music Magpie and the value was £220. Prices were compared on mobile network providers using the recycle service offered by O2 which valued the same iPhone at £170.25. The service offered by EE valued the same iPhone at £164, while the service offered by Three offered £162.
7. Source: MusicMagpie’s Bi-Annual Phone Depreciation Report 2021
8. Respondents were asked ‘Which, if any, of the following do you take into consideration when buying a piece of technology?’, 14% said ‘How recyclable it is’, 13% said ‘The environmental impact of making the device’. Meanwhile, 63% said ‘How long it will last me’ and 18% said ‘How much it holds its value over its lifetime’.
About Uswitch
Uswitch is one of the UK’s top comparison websites for home services switching, including broadband, mobiles, SIM Only and insurance. We’ve saved consumers over £2.5 billion off their bills since we launched in September 2000.
In 2022, Uswitch launched its free mobile app, Utrack, to help consumers manage their home energy costs. By connecting to their smart meter, users can track their energy usage hourly, get dynamic insights and calculate potential savings with handy tips.
Uswitch is part of RVU, a global group of online brands with a mission to empower consumers to make more confident home services, insurance and financial decisions.