Material Focus has issued a warning about the growing environmental impact of "FastTech" items, following a sharp rise in demand for mini portable fans and similar low-cost electronics.
Data from Google Trends revealed a 16% year-on-year increase in interest for mini fans as of May 2025. The warning forms part of Material Focus’s Recycle Your Electricals campaign, which highlights the mounting waste generated by these cheap, short-lived gadgets.
FastTech refers to inexpensive, mass-produced electronics such as LED lights, earbuds, mini karaoke machines and cables – often priced from as little as £1. While widely purchased, many are quickly discarded. Material Focus estimates that 55% of FastTech items bought each year are either binned or lost, with 589 million items thrown away in 2024/25 – a 25% rise from the previous year. This equates to the waste volume of 2,278 football pitches.
Spending on FastTech is forecast to soar from £2.8 billion in 2023 to £11.6 billion by 2025. Around 84% of UK adults bought at least one FastTech item last year, owning an average of 21 per person.
Cathrine Jansson-Boyd, professor of consumer psychology at Anglia Ruskin University, compared FastTech’s environmental harm to that of fast fashion: “We need to stop seeing these items as disposable.”
Material Focus executive director Scott Butler added: “FastTech might be cheap, but it’s not disposable. These items contain valuable materials like copper, gold and lithium — all being lost to landfill.
“Anything with a plug, cable or battery should never go in the bin.”
The organisation’s recycling locator can help households easily find local drop-off points for old or unused electricals.
