E-waste: Five billion phones to be thrown away in 2022

Many people keep old phones, rather than recycle them, research suggests.

Precious minerals not extracted from waste electronics, such as copper in wire or cobalt in rechargeable batteries, must be mined.

“People tend not to realise that all these seemingly insignificant items have a lot of value and together at a global level represent massive volumes,” WEEE director general Pascal Leroy said.

There are an estimated 16 billion mobile phones worldwide – and in Europe, almost a third are no longer in use.

The WEEE says its research shows that the “mountain” of electrical and electronic waste – from washing machines and toasters to tablet computers and global positioning system (GPS) devices – will grow to 74 million tonnes annually by 2030.

Earlier this year, the Royal Society of Chemistry launched a campaign promoting the mining of e-waste to produce new products, highlighting global conflict, including the war in Ukraine, that threatens precious-metal supply chains.

Magdalena Charytanowicz, of the WEEE, said:

“These devices offer many important resources that can be used in the production of new electronic devices or other equipment, such as wind turbines, electric car batteries or solar panels – all crucial for the green, digital transition to low-carbon societies.”

In the UK, more than 20 million unused but working electrical items, worth as much as possibly £5.63 billion, are currently hoarded in UK homes, surveys by the organisation Material Focus suggest.

It also calculated that the average UK household could sell unwanted tech and raise about £200.