Together with tech subscription company Grover, we look at how you can break the ‘tech junk’ cycle and still enjoy all of the gadgets you want.

Whatever your interests, whatever you do, we’re surrounded by technology. Whether it’s an interest in photography, gaming or flying a drone, that technology accumulates, as gadgets become obsolete. That’s not including the cables, chargers and other bits of kit that come with any tech purchase, as well the innumerable boxes, bags and wrapping!

Ready to use technology in a more mindful way? Rent for three months and receive 90% your first month by using the discount code THELOCAL90 on the German or Austrian site

A load of old junk

It’s not like you can simply throw them away either. Germany and Austria both have very particular regulations when it comes to the disposal of electronic waste, as many of the materials used are only recyclable under certain conditions, or pose an environmental hazard, such as rechargeable batteries. The German Umwelt Bundesamt, or Federal Environmental Office has estimated that each of us produces around nine and a half kilograms of ‘tech waste’ each year, and this deadweight just sits there and accumulates dust, taking up space around us and not giving us the satisfaction it could.

You could donate these goods to charitable organizations, but most of the time, they don’t have the need for such obsolete technology and you would only be shifting the burden to someone else. You could sell your old gadgets via an internet site like Ebay Kleinanzeigen, but this can often cost you more money than you would realistically make, when you factor in all the steps needed to list an item and make a sale.

Stay up to date and reduce ‘tech waste’ – rent for three months and receive 90% off your first month by using the discount code THELOCAL90. Click here if you’re in Germany, or here if you’re in Austria. 

Better living through (flexible) technology

Keen to clear your ‘tech junk’ drawer and find a way to enjoy all the different technology you want? This is what makes Grover such an exciting arrival on the scene. The German startup from Berlin has introduced flexible renting of technology across Germany and Austria, with over one hundred fifty thousand active subscriptions running on the platform thus far and growing. In fact, renting through Grover has been introduced at Saturn and Mediamarkt branches across Germany.

For a reasonable payment each month, you can choose to rent a phone, laptop, gaming console or other gadget. At the end of your chosen rental plan, you can either opt to send it back for an upgrade, a different product or you can buy it outright, making it your own forever.

This flexible renting model has significant benefits for users, and especially international expats. Renting on a per month basis often works out cheaper than buying a device outright that you’ll inevitably stop using at some point, and means that a device can be returned when you choose to go home, rather than take something that may not work or take up space in your luggage.

Renting and usage-based consumption are also mindful and far-sighted financial choices that allow us all to keep up to date with our preferred technology, and to stop paying for that technology when we no longer use it. This helps prevent impulse buys that leave us out of pocket and lugging around yet more useless cables and batteries.

Want to try out some more tech? Don’t buy and saddle yourself with more ‘tech waste’. Rent flexibly through Grover and save money and space. Use voucher code THELOCAL90 to receive 90% off your first month, when you rent for three months on either the German or Austrian sites.