Here today, gone tomorrow: The discarded gadgets

Published on August 5, 2011 by admin   ·   No Comments

Do Brits have a gadget addiction? According to a recent study, UK adults have spent £15bn on 300 million gadgets that have eventually been thrown in the bin since 2006.

In the past five years, a total £468 million worth of gadgets – 9.3 million devices – have been thrown away after a short period of use, a report from Swiftcover insurance shows.

Six devices per person – worth £15bn in total – is the average amount that every Brit owns, with 36% of them having bought more than six since 2006.

Divided by gender, this trend shows interesting differences between men and women. While 40% of women decide to recycle their devices by giving them to friends or family, men seem to be a bit less generous; a third of them (31%) choose to sell or discard their unwanted gadgets.

A waste of money

The constant renewal and upgrading of gadgets – sometimes every six months – means that a serious amount of money is wasted annually by technology consumers.

Data shows that almost a third of Britons (27%) actually use less than half of their purchases, while 35% of all gadgets bought since 2006 are no longer in use by their initial owner.

Recycling (19%), giving them to friends or family (21%) or reselling them (16%) are the three options that most Britons take when they want to get rid of their old devices.

“We’re most definitely a gadget nation and our thirst for the newest and the best is growing rapidly, apparently regardless of any financial restraints we currently have,” said James Barclay, Home Insurance manager at Swiftcover.

If you are a gadget lover and like to spend your money on technology, a quick and easy payday loan could help you to treat yourself with a little present.

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