Recycling of mobile phones can contribute to the economy and is good for the environment as well.
The Gold rush
There is about 0.034 grams of gold in a mobile phone. As per a survey, 6.378 billion smart phones and about 723 million feature phones are in use in the world in 2021. The total amount of gold present in these mobile phones sums up to 241,434 ton.
Number of smart phones in India in 2021 exceed 600 million in number. That is about 10% of the smart phones available in the world. The presence of gold in these smart phones sums up to about 20,400 tons of gold.
India has imported about 730 ton/annum of gold since 2012. Even if we recover 10% of the gold used in the mobile phones that are currently in use once they reach their end of useful life period, our dependency on imports can come down.
An article published on Gold.org by Adam Webb, Director of Mine Supply, Metals Focus Ltd states in the first quarter of 2021 the global average of cost of keeping a gold mine in business is US$ 1048/oz. One ounce is equal to 28.3495 grams. A gold mine is economically viable if about 5 gram gold per ton of ore mined.
The numbers shown above help make economical sense to recycle mobile phones and bring back the gold into the economy. The scarcity of good recyclers in India has lead to scrap dealers trying to salvage as much as they can and exporting the rest. This results in the country losing about 70% of recoverable gold in E-waste, says Mr. Ashish Chaturvedi, Director -Climate Change, GIZ India.
The environmental impact
Apart from gold other precious metals and non metals used in the manufacture of a smartphone are silver, tin, lithium and tantalum. These substances are not so dangerous to living beings but they contribute to degradation of the environment. The degradation happens via carbon emission, mining, loss of habitat for wild animals.
While the average power consumption by a smartphone is less, the carbon emission during the production and supply of smartphones is the cause of concern. The heart of any smartphone is its chip and motherboard. The highest emission is during the production of the chip and the motherboard since they require precious metals that are mined at high cost.
The average usage lifecycle of a smartphone is about 2 years. Owing to lifestyle trends, smartphone manufacturing companies keep churning out new models and variants to cater to the taste of the customer. This results in frequent buying of newer models and making the old models obsolete.
What can be done?
Reusing
The second hand/used/refurbished mobile phone market in India is one of the biggest in the world. Using these phones can ease the burden on the production of mobile phones.
Manufacturers bring out upgraded models every few months resulting in customers either exchanging their old phones for a specific value or selling it in the second hand market. Buying second hand phones is also cost effective.
Reducing
Mobile batteries have Lithium present in them. Reducing the usage of battery consuming apps in mobile phones helps in increasing battery life. Reducing impulse buying also helps in decreasing E-waste.
Recycling
Many mobile manufacturers like Oppo have implemented the takeback system as a means of recycling. The E-waste (Management) Rules, 2016 has made it mandatory for manufacturers to devise systems where E-waste is either brought back through recyclers or by implementing takeback systems.
PRO (Producer Responsibility Organization) help promote the culture of recycling and encouraging people to adapt sustainable lifestyles. They collect E-waste from bulk and individual consumers and channelize it to recyclers. They design and implement outreach programs on behalf of producers and manufacturers of Electrical and Electronic components.
The recycled precious metals recovered can be brought back into the economy. This helps in reducing the depletion of our natural resources. India’s dependency on foreign imports will also be addressed if we recycle. India imports large quantities of gold from Switzerland and the UAE. As per GeSI and StEP, India loses 50% of gold during crude dismantling of E-waste.
Apart from gold; silver, copper and palladium are in high demand. Currently the PCBs are exported for recycling to other countries. Developing the capacities to extract these precious and semi precious metals in India will help the economy in a long way.
Recycling also helps in scientific disposal of dangerous elements such as cadmium, lead, arsenic, mercury and bromine. Improper disposal can result in leakages of these elements in the groundwater table resulting in irreparable damage to the ecosystem.
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