FISH OUT YOUR FADTECH!

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• 18.2 million kitchen fad electricals – from air fryers to bread makers, blenders to chocolate fountains, juicers to popcorn machines – are gathering dust in UK cupboards
• They could be turned into life-saving equipment instead
• Joanna Page and Ortis Deley are encouraging the nation to ‘fish out your FadTech’ and donate or recycle it

(Thursday, 29^th June 2023) You can’t move for talk of air fryers, the latest kitchen electrical taking Britain by storm: 40% of British homes have one. Doesn’t it feel like we’ve been here before though – from lean grilling machines to chocolate fountains, soda makers to spiralizers, teasmades to trendy blenders? 

Unlike the humble electric kettle, which is 130 years old this yearand has become a household staple, many electrical innovations burn brightly and then either burn out or get bunged in a cupboard. Sound familiar? You’re not alone.  

Whilst the air fryer looks like it could be ‘for keeps’ like the kettle, new omnibus research from Recycle Your Electricals has revealed the extent of Britain’s so-called kitchen FadTech obsession – electricals like bread makers, blenders, chocolate fountains and popcorn machines. 92% of UK households own FadTech – with an average of 4 items per household – BUT nearly half of households say their once-trendy items are now gathering dust. That means our collective cupboard holds a whopping 18.2 million kitchen electricals rarely or never used. 

Recycle Your Electricals is on a mission to get Brits to fish out their FadTech and donate or recycle them to allow the valuable materials in them to be reused as something even more useful.  For example, the estimated 2.4mn blenders gathering dust across the UK could be recycled into 2.1mn defibrillators!

The list of top 20 FadTech [see full table for Top 20] now gathering dust in UK homes is a roll-call of items that became trendy over the last two or more decades but then waned in popularity. The top five most likely items to be gathering dust are: ice cream maker, chocolate fountain, hostess trolley, popcorn machine and bread maker. The number of unused breadmakers in UK cupboards would stretch from London to Paris and halfway back again! In addition, there are an estimated 2.4 million unused blenders taking up space in cupboards. 

Scott Butler, executive director, Recycle Your Electricals campaign, says, “We’ve all fallen for the latest FadTech – including me – and sometimes they become kitchen staples. But, often, after taking up counter space they’re consigned to a cupboard. They’re not cheap, so it can feel wasteful to clear them out but they can be recycled into something really useful or donated if they’re still in good condition. If you have FadTech to recycle, the easiest thing to do is visit our postcode locator to find your nearest drop-off point.”

Actor and presenter Joanna Page, has a stash of FadTech, thanks to her children. She is backing the campaign, saying, “I’ve got children, so we get these items thinking they’ll be fun and they are at first. But then you don’t use them more than once a year and they just end up taking up space in your cupboard! I’ve got two waffle makers, I don’t even know why I need two! They’re not cheap so it can be hard to part with them but it’s great to hear they can be recycled and free up some all-important cupboard space!”

TV Presenter and Host of the Gadget Show, Ortis Deley, who helped put together the picture of how and why Britain’s FadTech stash built up says, “As a gadget fan myself, I know it can be tempting to want to join the trend but as with any fashion, these things usually always move on or improve, so it’s worth thinking about whether you will really use something before you buy it and if you find you don’t use it any more, recycling it to give it a new lease of life.”

In addition to a FadTech stash, nearly 1 in 5 British households have multiple items of staple kitchen items – kettles, toasters and microwaves. Across UK homes, there are 6.5 million kettles, 3.4 million microwaves 3.6 million toasters that are either broken or spare. These could also be recycled into something really useful, by visiting www.recycleyourelectricals.org