Your phone will certainly be expensive and important to you, regardless of whether it is a new iPhone model or a Nokia 3310 model. But did you know that by the end of 2022, around five billion mobile phones will be thrown away as e-waste worldwide?
The World Organization for Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) says that 5.3 billion mobile phones will not be recycled this year, but will be thrown away as e-waste.
This estimate based on global trade data highlights the growing environmental problem of "e-waste."
Research has found many people keep their old mobile phones instead of recycling them.
And the precious metals in these phones, like the copper in the wires and the cobalt in the rechargeable batteries, have to be mined for those minerals, rather than being mined and reused.
"People don't realize that all these seemingly unusual items have a very high value and that together they represent a huge global volume," says WEEE CEO Pascal Leroy.
There are an estimated 16 billion mobile phones worldwide, and around a third of mobile phones in Europe are no longer in use.
WEEE says its research has revealed that there is a mountain of e-waste around the world, from washing machines to toasters and from tablet computers to GPS devices and it will rise to 74 million tons by 2030.
Earlier this year, the Royal Society of Chemistry launched a campaign to promote the use of precious metals from old equipment to make new products, drawing attention to global conflicts, including the Ukraine war. It threatens the precious metals supply chain.
"These old devices provide many important and valuable resources (metals) that can be used in the production of new electronic devices or other devices such as wind turbines, batteries for electric cars," says WEEE representative Magdalena or solar panels. All of this is essential for the digital transition to low-carbon societies."
More than 17 percent of the world's e-waste is properly recycled. However, the International Telecommunication Union of the United Nations has set the goal of increasing it to 30 percent by next year.
It is clear that "it is one of the fastest growing and most complex types of waste that affects human health and the environment as it may contain harmful substances."
Research by Material Focus has revealed that there are more than one million unused but usable electrical appliances worth around £5.63bn in UK households.
It has also been calculated that the average UK household can sell up to £200 worth of unused electrical appliances.
The organization's online information campaign will also tell you where your nearest recycling plant is.
Pascal Leroy says that more work should be done in this regard.
"Providing collection boxes in supermarkets, picking up small broken appliances when new appliances are delivered, and offering drop boxes for small e-waste returns can encourage returns," he says. Some measures are in place for this.
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