More than half of the Dutch population have old mobile phones gathering dust at home. A potential goldmine: if all Europeans were to hand in their old phones, the EU would not need to mine new raw materials for three years to produce new devices. These phones contain many critical raw materials on which we currently depend on countries such as China and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Should you recylce your phone?
Watch this episode of Universiteit van Nederland to learn more about this topic. Industrial designer Dorien van Dolderen (TU Delft) and earth materials expert Arjan Dijkstra (University of Twente) demonstrate how difficult it is to dismantle and recycle phones, due to glued batteries and complex connections. They show how metals are separated using magnets, shredders, and high-temperature processes, ultimately recovering small amounts of valuable metals—worth only about €4 per phone, but strategically important for Europe.
The discussion stresses the need for design for recycling, advocating for easily removable batteries and fewer adhesives. Consumers can help by returning old devices, which is easy at recycling points in supermarkets and electronics stores. Despite this, around 60% of people still keep old phones at home.
