🌱 What is FastTech?
“FastTech” is a term used to describe the electronic equivalent to fast fashion. The term generally refers to the small electronic and electrical devices that are cheap (on average £4 per item) and people use every day. Common examples of FastTech include cables, chargers, fairy lights and other decorative lights, disposable single-use vapes, handheld vacuum cleaners, headphones, mini handheld fans, mini speakers, step counters, and USB sticks. As these products have short lifespans, people often view these as “disposable” – even when they are not intended to be. FastTech items are purchased for a variety of reasons – such as to replace a broken item (which is the reason for 39% of UK adults) or as a so-called “fun novelty” (which is the reason for 8% of UK adults).
🌱 How quickly is FastTech growing?
In the UK, consumers buy 16 FastTech items every second and an average adult buys nine FastTech products per year. Of these, 90% are disposed within a short timeframe – making FastTech “the fastest growing e-waste stream” in the UK. Each year, a total of 471 million pieces of FastTech end up in landfills in the UK. The non-profit organization, Material Focus has estimated that there were “260 million disposable vapes, 26 million cables (enough to go round the Earth five times), 29 million LED, solar and decorative lights, 9.8 million USB sticks, and 4.8 million mini fans” in the near half a billion FastTech products that ended up in UK landfills last year.
🌱 How does this impact the planet and people?
Like fast fashion, FastTech has considerable adverse impacts on the environment and people. The production of FastTech – amongst others – requires considerable quantities of metals, minerals, plastics, energy, and water. Like fast fashion, FastTech is often produced using “cheap labour” (in suboptimal or poor working conditions) and its disposal creates large amounts of waste. Both, the production and informal recycling of FastTech can lead to soil and groundwater contamination.
🌱 What does a responsible approach look like?
In an ideal world, we would have “SlowTech” – or electronic and electrical devices that are designed to last and be repairable. However, in a world where FastTech exists, avoiding purchasing non-durable products or trying to prolong products’ lifespans (for example, through careful use and repairs) is the next best thing to do. Once electronics do break down, it is worth remembering to recycle these.
🌱 Is recycling FastTech helpful to the planet?
Even small low-cost or inexpensive electronics, such as FastTech, contain valuable materials. If these items are thrown away, the resources they contain are wasted. This has a negative impact on both our economy and the environment. Like other e-waste, FastTech can be recycled and should never just be thrown in the general waste stream. In the UK, 90% of FastTech items are, however, discarded in the general waste. This is more than for fast fashion in the UK, where 30% is thrown away rather than recycled. By recycling FastTech, the materials it consists of can be recovered and turned into new products.
Read more about FastTech here:
- https://www.materialfocus.org.uk/?press-releases=is-fasttech-the-new-fast-fashion
- https://www.recycleyourelectricals.org.uk/what-is-fasttech/
- https://www.bbc.com/news/business-67082005
- https://usawire.com/how-fast-tech-upgrades-are-increasing-e-waste/
- https://impakter.com/fast-tech-seriously-rivalling-fast-fashion-how-bad-is-the-e-waste-crisis/
- https://network.efwconference.com/posts/the-dark-side-of-fast-tech-convenience