People accumulate their old technological devices in their homes

Campaign groups trying to reduce electrical device waste warn that idle electrical appliances and broken technology products are accumulating in homes. The group Material Focus estimates that the number of waste products in the home has increased from 20 to 30 on average in the last four years.

Among such products in the UK: Remote controls, mobile phones and hair dryers in the top 10 is coming. The United Nations also recommends recycling such waste products.

Paul Bowtell, who describes himself as a hoarder of electrical goods, someone who can’t say goodbye to such materials. Bowtell shows off boxes containing more than 40 electrical items and admits there are many more waste items in boxes in the attic of his home.

The man, who lives in Bristol, claims that he kept some products to give to his sons. However, among the items he cannot say goodbye to, there are also products that were once expensive but no longer have any value.

Scott Butler, director of Material Focussays that in the modern world everyone has similar drawers and boxes.

Butler, “There are cables in these drawers that we don’t know what they’re for: like a remote control for a DVD player that hasn’t been in use for a very long time.” says.

Material Focus estimates that around 880 million idle appliances are stored in UK homes.

Scott Butler, this amount of product recycling value could reach £1 billion says.

Old laptops, electric toothbrushes and shavers contain steel, aluminum, copper, lithium batteries and even gold that can still be used.

Justin Greenaway at recycling company SWEEEP explains that all the important connections inside a computer are finished with gold to prevent data corruption. Greenaway says they processed computer parts to recover this gold.

Data from Material Focus, UK households throw away 103,000 tonnes of electrically powered products each year rather than recycling them is showing.

Sarah Burns from Bristol Waste argues that the number of electrical products in homes should be reduced.

Burns reminds us that a product that becomes idle for one household will still be usable for another household and underlines the awareness of sharing.

Smartphones are loaded with precious metals and rare earths. For example, a typical iPhone contains 0.034 grams of gold, 0.34 grams of silver, 0.015 grams of palladium, and a thousandth of a gram of platinum. It also contains aluminum (25g) and copper (15g), which are slightly cheaper.

The amount of gold in one ton of iPhones contains 300 times more gold than one ton of gold ore and 6.5 times more silver than the same weight of silver ore.

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