Unwanted gadgets worth £23bn

Britons are sitting on £23bn worth of electrical items which they no longer use, according to research.

Personal finance website Fool said each household has around £375 worth of unwanted but usable gadgets gathering dust in cupboards and attics.

A survey of 2,000 people found that one in five (18 per cent) were upgrading such items within two years.

As a result of digital television, nearly half (41 per cent) of those surveyed said they owned a video/DVD player they no longer used. The mobile revolution has also meant that one third of people have a mobile stored away in a cupboard.

Young people were found to be the biggest culprits with just over a quarter of 18-24 year olds buying the latest high-tech items to keep up with current trends. Men were also twice as likely as women to upgrade gadgets.

Fool blamed purchasing habits on the hype that surrounds new technologies when they first come into the market.

David Kuo, the company's head of personal finance, said: “Often it can be better to bide your time until the euphoria surrounding the next must-have gadget dies down. The only must-haves you need are long-term financial goals to keep you from being distracted by short-term temptations.”

Waste Watch an environmental charity agreed. It estimated that around one million of tonnes of electronics were discarded every year.

Sam Jarvis, a representative for the charity, said: “We all have old mobile phones and redundant VHS machines around the house that we no longer use.

“The best thing we can do is to go for quality rather than quantity. It is much better to buy things that will last instead of constantly having to replace items that may look nice, but do not have a long lifespan."

Jarvis also advised consumers to check with their council to see what materials were accepted for recycling at the public tip.

However, according to figures by Fool, some gadgets do not lose their value. For example, a Nintendo Wii is still estimated to cost the same price as it did this time last year. Therefore if recycling or giving gadgets away is not really something that appeals, selling them on Ebay or through specialist gadget sites such as Buysellgadget can also be a good way to get some money back.