Will national recycling day revive more phones Down Under?

Australia launched its first annual Mobile Phone Recycling Day on 24 January hoping to increase electronics recycling rates.

This is in response to the UN labelling the nation the world’s fifth biggest e-scrap producer – averaging 21.7kg of waste per citizen.

Industry organisation Planet Ark and recycling firm MobileMuster teamed up to call on Australians to recycle more end-of-life phones. The country’s 26.6 million inhabitants have an estimated 24 million old devices lying around at home. Around 13 million of these are broken.

Australia boasts an electronics recycling rate of 54% but figure could be much improved, according to MobileMuster.

The company has been processing end-of-life devices for over 25 years and recovered almost 110 tonnes of mobile phone components in the past year. In doing so, it saved 461 tonnes of mineral resources while reducing 328 tonnes of CO2 emissions.

While an increasing number of devices is being repaired, refurbished and recycled, the need to do more is ‘urgent’.  MobileMuster operates thousands of drop-off points across the nation, offering a free-of-charge recycling service.