As the UK heads into our third heatwave of the year, research shows that 2026 has already broken the all-time record for mini fan demand.
In the first six months of this year (January - June 2026), cumulative search interest for mini fans has already surpassed the full 12-month total of any previous year in UK history, meaning searches for the tech are up over 90% compared to the same period last year.
Despite mini fans booming in popularity, research from Recycle Your Electricals suggests these are binned almost as quickly as they’re bought, with 3.4 million mini fans being binned or unused following last year's heatwaves.
Additional stats include:
- Google searches for “mini fan” over the past month (June 2026) were 456% higher than the same month 10 years ago (June 2016)
- 4.91 mn mini fans were sold in the UK during last year’s heatwave in a bid to stay cool, meaning that over a third of Brits now own one
- The UK has already overtaken the previous full-year search records set in 2025, as well as those during the historic 2022 heatwave (when the mercury topped 40.3 degrees in July 2022)
Small, cheap “FastTech” electricals like mini-fans are - wrongly - being seen as disposable, and actually can contain precious metals such as lithium or gold, so always need to be recycled. To help, you can find your nearest electricals recycling point here.
Commenting on the increase Scott Butler, Executive Director at Material Focus says: “Whether it’s a heatwave, a Christmas present, or replacing a lost charging cable, FastTech is fuelling our appetite for that “in the moment we think we desperately need that item”. Mini-fans, like other items of FastTech, can quickly get forgotten about or dumped, when they should instead be recycled. Search recycle your electricals to find your nearest recycling point.”