Love Island twins Jess and Eve Gale have taken to the streets of London to help people with some ‘recoupling’ – but it’s not romance on the agenda this time.
A new study has found that careless Brits have lost over 13 million sets of headphones over the past five years.
Many people drop just one of the buds, which can be even more frustrating.
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On a mission to help, the reality TV stars – both aged 25 – doled out one free single replacement to save busy city dwellers from having to purchase a whole new set of earphones.
Jess and Eve, who appeared on series six of ITV’s hit show – the first winter season in South Africa – said: “I just can’t believe how many people had lost just one on the Tube, on a night out, down the toilet – it’s crazy.”
They added: “People couldn’t believe that they could get just one AirPod instead of buying a whole new set.”
The twins also pointed out the environmental benefits, saying buying a single earphone rather than a full new set is “great for the planet” and avoids the waste of throwing away a perfectly good earpiece.
Their mission comes amid the shocking findings of the study, which discovered that a third (32%) of adults have lost earphones in the past five years.
The research was carried out by YouGov on behalf of the refurbished tech marketplace, Back Market – which offers single AirPods for sale to avoid the issue of buying a full new set when one goes missing.
Most earphones were lost at home (38%), while nearly a quarter (23%) went missing on the street.
Other common places people lost their AirPods were on the bus, at work, at the gym, or while on nights out.
Youngsters aged between 18-24 were found to be the most careless with their earphones, with over half (52%) losing one, while 12% of the same group admitted to losing five or more pairs over the past five years.
With over half (57%) of UK adults today wearing wireless headphones, it’s easy to see how so many earpieces are going missing.
Of the wireless headphone users, over a quarter (27%) have lost a single earpiece, leading to the majority (47%) buying a new set, while a fifth (18%) threw out the remaining single earphone.
To combat the issue of electronic waste, Back Market is now selling single refurbished earphones and AirPods, all of which have been cleaned, professionally refurbished and sterilised.
As well as being environmentally beneficial, the global marketplace can also help cut costs – with a refurbished single 3rd generation AirPod costing £59, as opposed to a new set setting you back £169.
Eve said of the news: “I love the idea of being able to buy a singular headphone as I know all too well the frustration of losing just one of your AirPods and having to buy a whole new pair.”
The study also found that most adults (88%) had no idea it was possible to purchase a solo earphone, while four in 10 (40%) said they would be keen to do so to save money, and a quarter (26%) would do it to reduce waste.
Luke Forshaw, head of UK Marketing at Back Market, added: “The simple message from us is that there’s no need for a dumping when you lose a solo earphone, we have heaps of refurbished earphones for you to recouple with.
“As a B-Corp business, we’re always looking for ways we can help the planet, and will continue to offer innovative solutions that support the environment, while offering great value to our customers.”
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