8 July 2026
Research from the Recycle Your Electricals campaign indicates a significant surge in the purchase of mini-fans across the UK in response to the recent heatwave, reaching 7.9 million items this year. The June heat surge caused Google searches to more than double compared to the month before.
While mini-fans are widely purchased during high temperatures, Recycle Your Electricals research shows they are thrown away or stashed in a drawer almost as quickly as they are bought. These devices are known as “FastTech”—low-cost, pocket-sized electricals such as cables, earbuds, and novelty gadgets.
Recycle Your Electricals research from 2025 established that 55% of all mini-fans bought by consumers were thrown into standard household rubbish bins. If these patterns continue through the current summer season, an estimated 4.3 million mini-fans will be thrown away this year. When a mini-fan is thrown away the raw materials contained inside them are lost forever, such as gold, lithium and copper.
Scott Butler, Executive Director of Material Focus said: “Mini-fans, one of the poster children of FastTech, first appeared en masse last year and more are surging onto the market during this heatwave, helping us deal with this extreme heat. Whether it’s a heatwave, a Christmas present, or replacing a lost charging cable, FastTech is fuelling our appetite for that ‘in the moment we think we desperately need that item’.
However, as quickly as they are bought, many are thrown away or lie forgotten at the bottom of our drawers of doom. Instead, with a bit more thought, we could buy an item that could last a bit longer, work just as well but be better for the environment. However, sometimes a quick fix needs to be found. What we should do instead, is make sure if it doesn’t work anymore we safely recycle it. Search up recycle your electricals to find your nearest recycling point.”
Mini fans – are they really the best way to stay cool in this hot weather? Perhaps, they are very popular, and we found in our research last year that they, like other small cheap FastTech items, have surged onto the market. They can be seen everywhere on public transport and at events across the UK. But could paper or fabric fans possibly do a better job (with a little effort) providing better ‘waft value’? Mini-fans, like other items of FastTech can quickly get forgotten about or dumped, when they should instead be recycled. Search up recycle your electricals to find your nearest recycling point.”
There are 30,000 electrical recycling drop-off points located across the UK including local supermarkets, electrical retailers, and local authority waste centers. Consumers can find their nearest recycling point by going to Recycle Your Electricals postcode locator.
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Media Contact: kate@materialfocus.org.uk / mobile 07714 708416
Material Focus is a not-for-profit organisation whose goal is to stop the nation throwing away or hoarding all their old small electricals. Material Focus is delivering the UK-wide Recycle Your Electricals campaign. The campaign is revealing the value hidden in electricals and is making it easier for us all to recycle and reuse the small electricals we no longer need by providing more recycling points as well as providing practical information on how households can recycle.
The campaign is funded by producers of electrical appliances. The UK government sets annual targets for the recycling of all waste electricals, including small electricals. If producers of electrical appliances don’t meet this target, then they contribute towards a fund (WEEE Fund) which pays for a range of activities, including communications, behaviour change activities, increased recycling projects and research. Ultimately the aim is to support actions that will help the UK increase the levels of reuse and recycling of waste electricals.
Rise of mini-fans research methodology
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