Recycling - materials or energy recovery and final disposal

GSMA estimates that of the mobile phones collected annually through channels for which information is available about 15-20% or up to about 4.5 million phones globally will be beyond economic repair and need to be recycled. Using the estimate of 130 grams as the average phone weight (inclusive of battery), the current total mass of phones to be recycled is about 582 tonnes. This is only about 0.001-0.003% of the estimated 20-50 million tonnes of waste electronic equipment each year. Therefore, practical and environmentally responsible methods for the recycling of end-of-life phones have to be developed in conjunction with those for other electronic equipment.

During recycling the batteries may first be separated from the mobile phone and sorted into their various types before reprocessing by specialist recyclers. Nickel cadmium, nickel metal hydride and lithium ion/polymer batteries have their metals recovered and reused in products such as power tools, saucepans and new batteries. The rest of the handset may be dismantled by manual and/or mechanical separation of components or directly placed into high-temperature integrated metal smelters with efficient controls for the separation of metals and removal of waste gas. The metals extracted during this process – including gold, platinum, palladium and silver – are put back into productive use. About 16% (by weight) of a typical mobile phone is considered ‘high value’ materials. However, the quantities of some of these materials – gold for example – has reduced over time due to advances in manufacturing techniques. Chargers, accessories and even packaging should be recycled. Plastic components come in mixed grades and , contain dyes or other contaminants, which makes these parts difficult to reuse. Such plastic components are incinerated in special facilities and energy recovered through the process.

Efficient and environmentally sound treatment of mobile phones requires sophisticated facilities that cannot be duplicated in every country. Therefore, end-of-life phones will need to be exported, under appropriate authorisations, to the few suitable plants. The GSM Association welcomes efforts by authorities to tackle illegal export of end-of-life electronic equipment to countries that lack the necessary infrastructure. However, the introduction of unnecessary barriers for companies demonstrating good practices should be avoided.

If a mobile phone cannot be refurbished or if the components cannot be reused, the remaining materials are sent for environmentally sound recycling and disposal.