100m old phones are a goldmine
Instead of sitting hidden and unused in a drawer they can be recycled for valuable materials
People have a real goldmine in their homes and a report by the Sénat highlights that there are 100 million old phones sitting in drawers across the country when they would be better recycled to recuperate valuable materials... such as gold.
With each phone containing more than 80% of recyclable materials – plus potentially polluting items like the battery – the recycling agency Eco-Systèmes wants more people to hand in an old phone when they get a new one.
It says recycling is not just good for the environment it is good for the economy as modern electronic equipment contains copper, gold, palladium, and platinum plus rare earth minerals that can only be obtained in China, with prices soaring.
It also keeps people in jobs with 3,600 people being employed at present in the still growing electric recycling industry.
The Sénat report said each person throws out 20kg of electrical and electronic equipment each year but that most forget to include old phones – with nearly one in two keeping them ‘just in case’ when they get a new mobile.
Even if they do dispose of the old mobile many will pass it on to a friend or family member or sell it on the internet, where prices can be attractive for more modern models – with some sites offering €155 for an iPhone 5s, €140 for a Galaxy S5 or €103 for an LG G3.
However, of the 20kg of equipment thrown out, just 9kg is recycled with this totalling 460,000 tonnes of material in 2015 – up 25% on 2014.
Recycling of large items such as washing machines etc rose 30% as people became aware of shops’ responsibility to take back old material when delivering new ones but there is still a shortfall on small appliances.
Eco-Systèmes has 6,500 collection points all over France – with many in large electrical stores but also in many rural déchetteries – which will receive anything from a USB thumbdrive to a fridge-freezer.
