{"id":2631,"date":"2022-11-21T14:25:47","date_gmt":"2022-11-21T14:25:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mozillion.com\/public\/resources\/?p=2631"},"modified":"2026-06-10T10:46:26","modified_gmt":"2026-06-10T10:46:26","slug":"brits-are-holding-onto-15-million-unused-phones","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mozillion.com\/resources\/brits-are-holding-onto-15-million-unused-phones\/","title":{"rendered":"Brits Are Holding onto 15 Million Unused Phones"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"et_pb_section_0 et_pb_section et_section_regular et_block_section\"><div class=\"et_pb_row_0 et_pb_row et_block_row\"><div class=\"et_pb_column_0 et_pb_column et_pb_column_4_4 et-last-child et_block_column et_pb_css_mix_blend_mode_passthrough\"><div class=\"et_pb_text_0 et_pb_text et_pb_bg_layout_light et_pb_module et_block_module\"><div class=\"et_pb_text_inner\"><p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 300; color: #999999; font-size: 13.0pt;\">By James, Mozillion Team<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><div class=\"et_pb_row_1 et_pb_row et_block_row\"><div class=\"et_pb_column_1 et_pb_column et_pb_column_1_3 et_block_column et_pb_css_mix_blend_mode_passthrough\"><div class=\"et_pb_text_1 et_pb_text et_pb_bg_layout_light et_pb_module et_block_module\"><div class=\"et_pb_text_inner\"><p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/res.cloudinary.com\/mozillion\/image\/upload\/f_auto,q_auto\/v1669040464\/gian-cescon-N0g-deioHO4-unsplash_xeuo1k.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><div class=\"et_pb_column_2 et_pb_column et_pb_column_2_3 et-last-child et_block_column et_pb_css_mix_blend_mode_passthrough\"><div class=\"et_pb_text_2 et_pb_text et_pb_bg_layout_light et_pb_module et_block_module\"><div class=\"et_pb_text_inner\"><p>Households across the UK are storing unused electronic items because they haven\u2019t got round to sorting them out yet.<\/p>\n<p>A survey by Virgin Media O2 has shown that households in Britain are hoarding nearly 15 million unused phones.<\/p>\n<p>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\u2019t know how to get rid of them.<\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><div class=\"et_pb_row_2 et_pb_row et_block_row\"><div class=\"et_pb_column_3 et_pb_column et_pb_column_4_4 et-last-child et_block_column et_pb_css_mix_blend_mode_passthrough\"><div class=\"et_pb_text_3 et_pb_text et_pb_bg_layout_light et_pb_module et_block_module\"><div class=\"et_pb_text_inner\"><p>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.<\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>While 38% have just taken an old or unused device to the tip and 32% have thrown them away in the household bin.<\/p>\n<p>Nearly a quarter of those surveyed don\u2019t know where they\u2019re nearest electronic recycle point is, but 28% plan to donate the items to charity.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><div class=\"et_pb_row_3 et_pb_row et_block_row\"><div class=\"et_pb_column_4 et_pb_column et_pb_column_4_4 et-last-child et_block_column et_pb_css_mix_blend_mode_passthrough\"><div class=\"et_pb_text_4 et_pb_text et_pb_bg_layout_light et_pb_module et_block_module\"><div class=\"et_pb_text_inner\"><p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mozillion.com\/search-phone-sale\">Sell your old phone on Mozillion for cash<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"et_pb_text_5 et_pb_text et_pb_bg_layout_light et_pb_module et_block_module\"><div class=\"et_pb_text_inner\"><p>Nicola Green from Virgin Media O2 said: \u201cIt\u2019s 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.\u201c<\/p>\n<p>We know that people are worried about their old tech ending up in landfill and the impact it\u2019s having on the planet.<\/p>\n<p>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%).<\/p>\n<p>And worryingly, 44% do not know how to wipe such data from items they no longer use.<\/p>\n<p>More than a third (34%) worry about their personal data being stolen or shared if they were to recycle a device.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s for this reason that Mozillion completely data-wipes any phone sold on Mozillion to ensure the seller\u2019s details and data are fully erased before the phone is resold.<\/p>\n<p>Thankfully, people now have more options than ever before for disposing of unused phones. They can be traded-in, sold on a site like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mozillion.com\/search-phone-sale\">Mozillion<\/a> for cash, or if they\u2019re too old, they can be recycled at one of the many <a href=\"https:\/\/www.recycleyourelectricals.org.uk\/electrical-recycling-near-me\/\">recycling points<\/a> around the UK.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2632,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2631","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Brits Are Holding onto 15 Million Unused Phones - Mozillion Resources<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Households across the UK are storing unused electronic items because they haven\u2019t got round to sorting them out yet.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mozillion.com\/resources\/brits-are-holding-onto-15-million-unused-phones\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Brits Are Holding onto 15 Million Unused Phones - 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