This Christmas, 11 million Britons expect to get a shiny new mobile phone as a gift, but a fifth of respondents to a new survey admit they just toss away old handsets - even if they still work.
According to the study conducted by Tesco Mobile, that means some two million mobile phones will be scrapped after the holidays - prompting the firm to launch its own recycling programme.
Andy Dewhurst, chief executive of Tesco Mobile, said: "As a nation, we're becoming greater consumers of electronic goods and with constant technological advances we're upgrading them more frequently too - these goods have almost become disposable."
But handsets can be recycled - even if Britons aren't aware of it. Indeed, just 18 per cent of people surveyed said they recycle their handsets, with the most common method for disposal listed as tossing them in the bin or just leaving old phones lying around the house. Research earlier this year found that unwanted UK mobile phones could be worth some £1 billion.
Not surprising then, that a third of people under 25 have no idea where their nearest recycling plant is.
"These results are very worrying," said Dewhurst. To help battle the waste, Tesco has launched two recycling services, one in-store and another online. Customers who turn in their old handsets will be given Tesco Mobile airtime or store vouchers. The retail giant is hoping to recycle a million handsets in the next year.
But mobiles aren't the only electronic goods getting dumped on the scrap heap. A quarter of respondents said they bin computers, printers and game consoles rather than recycle them.
Some 60 per cent said there isn't enough incentive to recycle household electronics. Despite 58 per cent of respondents agreeing that recycling is the responsibility of individuals, not the government, only a fifth said they bother to recycle household waste.
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