Furniture Waste Statistics: UK 2025

With a quarter of UK adults replacing a piece of furniture at least once a year, furniture waste is a significant and growing environmental problem. If not disposed of properly, unwanted furniture can contribute to landfill waste, not only damaging the environment, but also posing risks to public health. This raises important questions, such as how much furniture ends up in landfill and why do so many of us dispose of items that could be sold, donated, or recycled?

This guide uncovers all of the latest furniture waste statistics of 2025, exploring how often UK adults replace their furniture, the main reasons for discarding it and how our furniture waste habits differ depending on factors such as age, gender and location.

Fast Furniture: Key Statistics

No time to waste? Here’s a quick summary:

• A quarter of UK adults replace a piece of their furniture at least once a year.
• While 1 in 11 typically replaces an item of furniture twice a year or more.
• 16-24 year olds replace furniture most frequently, with 1 in 10 admitting to replacing an item every month.
• People in Leeds replace furniture more often than any other UK town or city, with those in Norwich doing so least frequently.
• The most common reason given by people for throwing out a good piece of furniture is that they tried to sell it, but were unsuccessful.
• Over 22 million pieces of furniture are thrown each year in the UK.
• Around 670,000 tonnes of furniture are discarded each year in the UK.

How often do people in the UK replace their furniture?

Buying furniture is often seen as an investment, but with big brands offering cheaper options, it’s becoming more of a commodity. Like ‘fast fashion,’ ‘fast furniture’ is on the rise, leading to more frequent replacements and increased landfill waste. As a business that prioritises the sustainable disposal of items such as furniture, we’re keen to get a better picture of the UK’s fast furniture issue.

To find out, in February 2025, we surveyed a demographically representative sample of 2,001 UK adults using the market research company Censuswide.

We asked participants how often, on average, do they replace a piece of furniture in their home, and they selected from different time frames which suited them:

• More often than once a month, please specify xx times a month
• Once a month
• Once every 2-5 months
• Once every 6-11 months
• Once a year
• Once every 2-4 years
• Once every 5 years
• Once every 6-10 years
• Less often than once every 10 years, please specify once every xx years
• Never

The table below shows how often UK adults replace furniture:

 

As you can see:

• 1 in 30 UK adults replaces an item of furniture once a month (3.25%).
• And nearly 1 in 10 replaces a piece of furniture once a year (9.2%).
• A fifth of UK adults replace furniture every 2–4 years (21.84%).
• While a quarter of us do so every 6–10 years (24.54%).

Which age groups replace their furniture most often?

Is it older people who dispose of their furniture more frequently, or is it younger generations?

Our survey revealed that the younger we are, the more often we get rid of pieces of furniture. Our findings show that on average:

• Brits aged 16-24 and 25-34 replace their furniture most often – approximately every 2.5 years.
• Those aged 35-44 replace an item every 3 years.
• While those aged 45-54 do so every 4 years.
• The age group that replaces furniture least often is those aged 55+, who tend to replace an item of furniture every 6 years on average.

 

Our survey also revealed that:

• Younger adults are more likely to replace furniture on a monthly basis than any other age group with 1 in 10 16–24-year-olds in the UK admitting to doing so.
• This is compared to 6% of 35–44-year-olds, 4% of 25–34-year-olds, 2% of 45–54-year-olds, and less than 1% of those 55+.

Which cities in the UK replace their furniture most often?

How often do people in different parts of the UK replace their furniture? Do those living in busy city centres swap out items more often? Or is it those in more remote parts of the country?

Our survey found that:

• Norwich residents replace their furniture the least often, with an average of 5 years. This is followed closely by Plymouth and
• In contrast, people in Leeds, replace their most often - every 3.5 years on average. Followed by Nottingham, Belfast, and Birmingham.

 

Why do people throw out furniture that’s in good condition?

We’ve all been there - sometimes it’s just easier to get rid of furniture, but what if there’s a better way? Can we reduce waste by giving it to someone who would care for it instead of sending it to the tip or landfill?

We asked our participants if they have ever thrown out furniture that is in good condition to the tip or landfill instead of selling, donating, or recycling it, and to select all options that apply to them:

• N/A I have never thrown out furniture
• I tried to sell the item, but it had no buyers/interest from people
• Didn’t have the means to transport it
• Too much hassle
• Lack of time or convenience
• Lack of nearby donation options
• Urgency of moving (i.e. relocating quickly and did not have time to sell or donate)
• I wasn’t aware of recycling programs or donation centres that accept furniture in my area
• Other, please specify

Our survey found that:

• The main reason people in the UK throw out furniture instead of selling it is that they were unable to find a buyer or didn’t have enough interest, with 17% of people saying this.
• 16% lacked adequate transport to sell, recycle, or donate their furniture.
• Meanwhile, another 16% found recycling, selling, or donating furniture too much of a hassle.

Which age group throws out the most good furniture?

Given that older Brits tend to keep their furniture longer, why do they throw out furniture that’s still in good condition instead of donating, selling or recycling? And with sustainability and ‘thrifting’ furniture becoming more popular among young people, are they less wasteful when getting rid of usable furniture?

The results revealed that:

• The most common reason people aged 16–24 throw out decent furniture is lack of time and convenience.
• For people aged 25-34 and 35–44, having no interested buyer when trying to sell is their most common reason.
• While lack of transport to sell, donate, or recycle furniture is the most common reason for people aged 45–54 and over 55.

What are the most common reasons different cities dispose of good furniture?

For people living in busy cities, is the reason perhaps that they lack time or convenience to donate or sell their furniture? Which cities are more aware of their local donation points and recycling programs?

Our survey revealed that:

• Nearly 20% of people in Bristol said there is a lack of nearby donation options.
• Edinburgh follows with 19%, Manchester and Belfast with 18%, and Cardiff with 17%.
• Edinburgh and Birmingham have the highest percentage of people unaware of local donation centres (15%), followed by Belfast (13%).

Our table shows the key reasons why people in each city dispose of furniture:

 

The most common reasons for throwing out good furniture to the tip include a lack of transport, difficulty finding a buyer and the hassle involved.

This also revealed that:

• In cities like Edinburgh, Glasgow, London and Newcastle, the most common reason for not recycling, donating, or selling furniture is a lack of transport.
• In fact, Edinburgh had the highest proportion of responses from people without the means to transport furniture for donation, recycling, or sale (28%).
• Meanwhile, cities like Birmingham, Bristol, Nottingham, and Plymouth most commonly struggle to find a buyer for their furniture.
• Nottingham had the highest percentage of responses from people unable to sell their furniture due to a lack of interested buyers (24%)
• Interestingly, Brighton stands out as the only city where the most common reason for disposing of furniture is the urgency of moving, with 17% saying this.

How Much Furniture Ends Up in UK Landfills?

With nearly 1 in 15 UK adults replacing a piece of furniture every year, and a growing trend of young people replacing furniture monthly, what does this mean for the environment? How much of this waste ends up in landfills?

To find out, we delved into some of the latest statistics and figures on furniture waste in the UK from trusted sources.

• According to the North London Waste Authority, over 22 million pieces of furniture are thrown away annually, most of which end up in landfills.
• Global Environmental Action NGO, WRAP estimates that around 670,000 tonnes of furniture are discarded each year, making up of 42% of all bulky waste in the UK.

This may be partly due to the rise of ‘fast furniture’—cheap, mass-produced items designed to match changing trends. Made from cheap materials like plastic, these pieces usually last only 5 to 7 years, leading to frequent replacements.

What is the Impact of Furniture Waste on the Environment?

RightGreen figures show:

• Only 17% of discarded furniture is recycled in the UK.
• Making new furniture can produce up to 1000 times more CO₂ than refurbishing old pieces.

Furniture Waste Statistics of 2025

We hope you found this piece insightful in understanding more about furniture waste in the UK in 2025 and the common reasons why Brits throw away furniture. At HIPPO, we ensure your furniture is disposed of sustainably and provide a range of services including, mattress and white goods removal.

If you’re curious about the latest research on fly-tipping, we also conducted a 2025 report on how many people fly-tip in the UK.