A massive example of a lingering ending - ewaste in your home.
Engagement with consumers at the end helps in off-boarding old products people are hoarding, or don’t know how to dispose of. One of the largest growth sectors in US real estate is off-site storage. E-waste – old phones, TVs, computers, etc - is becoming a significant part of this pile of old products. These linger around in our homes, filling up cupboards without the benefit of instructions or destination for disposal. In the US only 17.4 per cent of 2019’s e-waste was collected and recycled. These were recoverable materials, valued conservatively at US $57 billion.
According to a piece of research commissioned by the mobile network GiffGaff, as part of their Check Your Drawers campaign, there is an estimated “55,000,000 unused mobile phones lying around” in the UK. In London, people would hoard 13 old gadgets on average – including two mobile phones, two tablets and two laptops, Birmingham came next with 11 pieces of tech, and Southampton with 10 unwanted gadgets.
Many of these items go unacknowledged for years. Forgotten. A perfect example of a lingering ending type - out of site, out of mind.
