Hoarders cling to mobiles

AUSTRALIANS are hoarding obsolete mobile phones that are up to 22 years old with potentially dire consequences for the environment.

Up to 16 million discarded mobiles are stashed in cupboards and drawers across the country according to the report, Australia: A Nation of Hoarders.

The study, carried out by non-profit mobile phone recycling program MobileMuster and online auction site eBay, revealed phones dating back to 1987 are still being sent in for recycling. More than 41 per cent of hoarded phones are at least four years old.

Australian Mobile Telecommunications Association recycling manager Rose Read said with owners of Australia’s 24 million mobile phones upgrading every 18 to 24 months, the potential environmental impact of old handsets, batteries and accessories was growing.

“Australians understand that throwing mobiles into landfill can be harmful to the environment, but instead of recycling them, those 14 to 16 million old, broken and unused phones are being hoarded in homes and offices,” she said.

If the millions of handsets stashed around the country were recycled, material recovered could produce 3.2 million aluminium cans, 160,000 plastic fence posts, and save the equivalent in greenhouse gases to taking 5180 cars off the road.

There are about 800 million mobile phone users around the world, a number that continues to grow.

Australians bought nine million new mobile phones in the past year.

Sociologist Dr Pol McCann said individuals were attached to their old mobile phones for several reasons.

“For many of us, we think about the initial cost of our old mobile phone and continue to value it at that same level,” he said.

Dr Pol said people also attached sentimental value to old phones because the messages sent and received were so personal.

“It’s important, however, that we recognise that these are just material items,” he said.

“We should ask ourselves: Do we really need to keep them? Is the sentimental value more important than recycling them?”

An AMTA survey asking people what they thought their old mobile was worth revealed some priced their old handsets at up to $1000.

The average sale price for a second-hand phone was just $20.

Thanks to Herald Sun: Hoarders cling to mobiles by Greg Thom

Photo: Mobile waste: Australians hoard their old mobile phones. Source: Herald Sun