14 DAY TRIAL // Mobile Compost, an initiative in Sweden, is targeted at getting old mobile phones out of circulation, while also reusing the precious metals they contain. A mobile phone shop in a Stockholm suburb is the place where people can acquire new handsets while also disposing of their older models. The initiative is aimed at helping those who do not know what to do with their devices.
According to Yasser Stan, a salesman in the shop, people who came in were sometimes wondering what to do with their devices. “They disposed of the batteries correctly, then they just threw the rest in the plastic recycling,” he said. The salesman also states that not all people would do what they were supposed to do with old phones, but most of them would bring the devices along the second time they entered the shop, as the sign for Mobile Compost informed them they could do so.
“Mobile phones are technologically complicated, with a lot of precious metals inside them. Those resources could replace the ones that are taken out of the ground,” stated Jan-Olof Eriksson, whose company El-Kretsen collects outdated electrical appliances and recycles them for cash. The handset segment can be seen as a real gold mine, he added.
Some users keep their old device only because they need a phone to use for work. As soon as the phone becomes unusable, it gets thrown in a drawer at home and becomes most often a toy for children. It seems that almost 15 million old telephones get tossed into drawers in the country. According to Sweden Refuse, a ton of old mobile phones would contain about a kilogram (2.2 pounds) of silver and around 300 grams of gold, so it would be worth cashing in on them.
At the same time, the move is also an environmentally-friendly one. “It’s a good use of existing resources, because the materials can be recycled many times,” Eriksson said. No toxic agents are released into the environment if a cell phone is recycled as it should. Mobile Compost is reported to be a British company that collects the mobile phones, tears them apart and recycles them. At the same time, $4 from the cost of each phone goes to the development agency Plan, which is focused on environmental projects.
“The mobile phone is the best loved piece of electronics equipment after radio and TV,” El-Kretsen's Eriksson said. “It is practical, you can be reached anywhere. And it offers a load of functions that make your daily life easier. Many people have a little museum at home of all their old cell phones.” He also added that he wouldn't dispose of his own handset too easily, but that Mobile Compost was nevertheless a good initiative and a way to make people change their attitude towards mobile phones.