UK Braces for Mini Fan Surge Amid Heatwave, Raising E-Waste Concerns

Britons are expected to buy nearly 8m mini fans this year as they are “surging on to the market” in the hot weather – but almost half of those are expected to be low-quality products that end up in landfill within a year.

Waste managers and recycling campaigners have raised concerns as the number of online searches for electrically powered handheld fans, which sell for as little as £2, has already surpassed that seen in the whole of 2025 in the first six months of this year.

The late June heat surge caused Google searches to more than double on the month before, according to data sourced by the campaign group Material Focus.

Electrical goods retailers have confirmed an increase in demand for cooling technology. The online specialist Joybuy said sales of all electrical fans were up more than 2,500% week on week during last month’s heatwave. The Chinese group, which sells handheld fans for less than £5, has fuelled the trend by giving away 6,000 of them free at transport hubs in London.

John Lewis said sales of its £15 neck fan more than tripled during the heatwave, while the boss of Currys admitted that fans were in short supply after sales rose almost 3,000% over the hottest weekend compared with a week earlier.

Temperatures in the UK could exceed 30C for up to 10 consecutive days from the middle of this week, with peak temperatures of 34C forecast.

Scott Butler, the executive director of the electrical product recycling campaign group Material Focus, urged people to seek out better-quality products or alternatives such as paper fans and to take any broken items to a local recycling facility.

“Mini fans, one of the poster children of fast-tech, first appeared en masse last year and more are surging on to the market during this heatwave, helping us deal with this extreme heat,” he said.

“But many are, as quickly as they are bought, 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.”

Last year the group calculated that 55% of mini – fans were thrown away and, as it expects about 7.9m to be bought in the UK in 2026, 4.3m are likely to be thrown away this year if last year’s habits continue.

Waste managers said they had not yet seen a rise in disposable fans turning up in refuse collections, but users should not put used items in bins and should check with their local council, or with retailers, for take-back schemes.

Richard Hudson, the policy and technical manager at the Chartered Institution of Wastes Management, said: “Any electrical items incorrectly disposed of in kerbside recycling or residual waste collections can cause problems for waste handlers.

“These items get crushed and damaged during the collection rounds, and as they contain high-powered lithium-ion batteries, they can then easily catch fire, causing serious risks to workers, equipment, waste facilities and the wider environment.

“The mass production of cheap, low-quality electrical items that are neither designed for longevity, or with end-of-life management in mind, are a big user of scarce critical raw materials.”