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By the time most consumers replace a mobile phone, the old one rarely goes anywhere. It is slipped into a drawer, tucked into a cupboard or left at the back of a desk \u201cjust in case\u201d it might one day be needed again.<\/p>\n
Now, multiply that habit across the entirety of the UK, and the scale is striking. According to research commissioned by Currys, British households are collectively storing around 880 million unused electronic devices, or roughly 30 items in every home.<\/p>\n
The tech retailer says four in five people admit to keeping an old mobile phone, while almost one in three still owns their very first handset. Many of them ageing Nokia models that have long since disappeared from pockets, but not from cupboards.<\/p>\n
However, for retailers and manufacturers trying to build a circular economy, these forgotten devices represent far more than just \u2018clutter\u2019. They contain valuable materials, reusable components and functioning products that could re-enter the market. While lithium-ion batteries discarded incorrectly continue to pose an increasing fire risk throughout waste and recycling systems.<\/p>\n
Retail Gazette<\/em> caught up with Currys head of sustainability Moira Thomas, who believes the challenge is no longer convincing people that recycling matters, but instead persuading them to act.<\/p>\n \u201cWe wanted to create more awareness,\u201d she says of the retailer\u2019s new Track the Tech campaign. \u201cPeople have been able to recycle technology for a long time, but there are still a lot of people who don\u2019t know that.\u201d<\/p>\n The campaign, launched this month, follows a device after it is handed over in store, showing customers what happens once it leaves the shop floor. Rather than disappearing into an unknown recycling chain, devices are securely data-wiped before being assessed for refurbishment, repair, parts harvesting or material recycling.<\/p>\n Thomas says making that journey visible is designed to tackle one of the biggest psychological barriers identified by Currys\u2019 research.<\/p>\n \u201cData security was a key concern,\u201d she explains. \u201cBy showing the journey the tech goes through, we\u2019re helping reinforce that there are processes in place to handle this properly and that their data is safe if they recycle.\u201d<\/p>\n Security concerns remain significant, but Currys\u2019 research suggests they are only one piece of a wider behavioural puzzle.<\/p>\n Nearly a quarter of respondents admitted they simply did not know how to recycle electronic devices. One in three said they had \u201cnever got round to it\u201d, while more than a quarter confessed they were keeping old technology because they might need it someday.<\/p>\n \u201cThe data security piece is connected to trust,\u201d Thomas says. \u201cBut there are other barriers getting in people\u2019s way.\u201d<\/p>\n Those findings suggest the UK\u2019s growing mountain of unused electronics is driven less by opposition to recycling than by inertia.<\/p>\n It is a problem with serious environmental consequences. Discarded electronics are one of the world\u2019s fastest-growing waste streams, yet they also represent one of its richest urban mines.<\/p>\n Smartphones, laptops and cables contain copper, aluminium, rare earth elements and, in some premium products, even silver and gold. Recovering those materials reduces demand for new mining while cutting carbon emissions associated with manufacturing replacement products.<\/p>\n Currys said it collected 5.5 million items of electronic waste for reuse and recycling across the Group last year, although Thomas acknowledges it remains difficult to break down precisely what ultimately happens to every item.<\/p>\nTrust is key, but only part of the story<\/h5>\n