Thursday 28th September 2006
An annual poll by insurance provider esure has revealed 80 million gadgets sit unused in Britains homes.
The products, termed white elephants, include labour-saving kitchen devices, health-conscious gizmos and new technologies. Voice over IP handsets, which offer users free online telephone calls, this year became the first internet equipment to appear on the list.
Entry on to the list is based on the number of people who say they have bought a particular product in the last two years, of whom at least half must admit that it is now unused.
Head of home insurance for esure Nikki Sellers said the companys aim is "to remind people not to forget the things they dont use when valuing their [home] contents". "You may not use it but you should still count it," she added.
While electric grills topped the chart as the most frequently discarded item with 60 per cent, or six million, gathering dust, the most redundant purchase was air purifiers which 78 per cent of adults no longer use.
Total spending on white elephants is now in excess of £1.75 billion a year.
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