By James, Mozillion Team
Households across the UK are storing unused electronic items because they haven’t got round to sorting them out yet.
A survey by Virgin Media O2 has shown that households in Britain are hoarding nearly 15 million unused phones.
The study showed that 39% of adults surveyed have unused electrical items in their home with 17% saying this is because they are keeping them as a spare in case their current one breaks, 11% are planning to repair them and 9% don’t know how to get rid of them.
Within this amassed pile of unused electronic items, it is estimated that there are 14.7 million phones included, 7.1 million DVD players, 6.1 million TVs, 5.6 million USB sticks and 3.5 million iPods.
The most common unused item is by far the mobile phone, making up 23% of unused electricals sitting around in drawers and cupboards at home.
Even with all of these items sitting there unused, 31% of people are worried about how e-waste is affecting the planet and 51% believe more needs to be done to tackle the problem.
While 38% have just taken an old or unused device to the tip and 32% have thrown them away in the household bin.
Nearly a quarter of those surveyed don’t know where they’re nearest electronic recycle point is, but 28% plan to donate the items to charity.
Nicola Green from Virgin Media O2 said: “It’s staggering how many old, unused, and outdated gadgets like phones, VCR players and USB sticks are gathering dust in drawers, lofts, and garages across the country.“
We know that people are worried about their old tech ending up in landfill and the impact it’s having on the planet.
A lot of the time, the concern is also personal data. More than half still have data on their unused electrical devices, including photos (52%), emails (40%) and work-related documents (26%).
And worryingly, 44% do not know how to wipe such data from items they no longer use.
More than a third (34%) worry about their personal data being stolen or shared if they were to recycle a device.
It’s for this reason that Mozillion completely data-wipes any phone sold on Mozillion to ensure the seller’s details and data are fully erased before the phone is resold.
Thankfully, people now have more options than ever before for disposing of unused phones. They can be traded-in, sold on a site like Mozillion for cash, or if they’re too old, they can be recycled at one of the many recycling points around the UK.