UK households are holding on to a whopping 18.2 million kitchen electricals that are rarely or never used.

According to research carried out on behalf of Recycle Your Electricals, millions of fad kitchen gadgets, from air fryers to bread makers, blenders to chocolate fountains, juicers to popcorn machines, are gathering dust in UK cupboards.

Ninety two percent of UK households own ‘FadTech’ – with an average of four items per home  – but nearly half of households say their once-trendy items are now rarely or never used.

The top five most likely items to be gathering dust are: ice cream makers, chocolate fountains, hostess trolleys, popcorn machines and bread makers. The number of unused bread makers in UK cupboards would stretch from London to Paris and halfway back again.

In addition, there are an estimated 2.4 million unused blenders taking up space in cupboards.

Recycle Your Electricals is on a mission to get Brits to fish out their FadTech and donate or recycle them to allow the valuable materials in them to be reused as something even more useful.

For example, the estimated 2.4 million blenders gathering dust across the UK could be recycled into 2.1 million defibrillators, according to the study.

Scott Butler, executive director of the Recycle Your Electricals campaign, said: “We’ve all fallen for the latest FadTech – including me – and sometimes they become kitchen staples. But, often, after taking up counter space they’re consigned to a cupboard.

“They’re not cheap, so it can feel wasteful to clear them out but they can be recycled into something really useful or donated if they’re still in good condition. If you have FadTech to recycle, the easiest thing to do is visit our postcode locator to find your nearest drop-off point.”

Actor and presenter, Joanna Page, has a stash of FadTech, thanks to her children. She is backing the campaign, and said: “I’ve got children, so we get these items thinking they’ll be fun and they are at first. But then you don’t use them more than once a year and they just end up taking up space in your cupboard.

“I’ve got two waffle makers, I don’t even know why I need two. They’re not cheap, so it can be hard to part with them, but it’s great to hear they can be recycled and free up some all-important cupboard space.”

TV presenter and host of The Gadget Show, Ortis Deley, who helped put together the picture of how and why Britain’s FadTech stash built up, commented: “As a gadget fan myself, I know it can be tempting to want to join the trend but as with any fashion, these things usually always move on or improve, so it’s worth thinking about whether you will really use something before you buy it and if you find you don’t use it any more, recycling it to give it a new lease of life.”

In addition to a FadTech stash, nearly one in five British households have multiple items of staple kitchen items – kettles, toasters and microwaves.

Across UK homes, there are 6.5 million kettles, 3.4 million microwaves and 3.6 million toasters that are either broken or spare.

These could also be recycled into something really useful by visiting www.recycleyourelectricals.org.uk.