Mobile operators around the world are planning to work together to recover and recycle the “mine” of metals including gold, copper, silver and cobalt in old phones.
Users often leave old phones in cupboards or throw them away without recycling them. Photo: BBC
On June 27, the Global System for Mobile Communications Association (GSMA) announced a plan to reduce the amount of electronic waste globally from broken, degraded or unrecycled mobile phones.
According to a report by GSMA, there are currently more than 5 billion unused mobile phones worldwide. They are thrown into household cupboards, dumped in landfills or burned in incinerators.
Once the devices reach the end of their useful life, they are left behind by users in drawers, warehouses, etc. instead of being reused or taken to recycling sites.
Old, broken electronic devices are a type of waste that causes headaches for experts. Photo: Phys
The association also claims that 50,000 tonnes of copper, 500 tonnes of silver and 100 tonnes of gold could be mined and reused from these devices, as well as enough cobalt to make batteries for 10 million electric cars.
The GSMA points out that not recycling such large quantities of devices is wasteful because the mining, refining and transporting of these precious metals is labor-intensive and energy-intensive.
The plan to take back and recycle these old phones will involve two steps. First, carriers will organize a program to take back old, broken phones directly from customers. This number accounts for about 20% of the number of new mobile devices distributed directly to customers.
All of the mobile phones will then be repaired, reused or sent to recycling plants.
But there are some limitations to the plan. Twenty percent of the current 5 billion mobile devices is too small. And carriers have no plans to stop consumers from throwing away or abandoning their phones in the future.
In addition, GSMA also revealed that among the representatives notified by the association, no network operator has registered for the above mobile recall program.
In October 2022, the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Forum confirmed that smartphones are one of the electronic products that cause headaches for waste treatment experts.
According to Zing
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