• Question: Should we recycle copper from mobile phones?

    Asked by reynoldsm to Helen, Jenni, Mark, Martin, Stu on 23 Jun 2011.
    • Photo: Jenni Tilley

      Jenni Tilley answered on 20 Jun 2011:

      We live in a disposable society – we use things for a whle and throw them away. However, in my opinion, this is a disasterous mindset to be in. The world has limited resources that we all rely on, and using them up and burying them in rubbish heaps means things run out even quicker.

      If you saw the apprentice two weeks ago, you’ll know just how much copper is workth right now. This is because it’s a highly valued commodity because of its ability to conduct, but there isn’t a lot of it around.

    • Photo: Stuart Mourton

      Stuart Mourton answered on 21 Jun 2011:

      As jenni says, we are using a lot of natural resources at an unsustainable rate, we need to re-use everything we can, and find sustainable alternatives for as much as possible.

    • Photo: Helen O'Connor

      Helen O'Connor answered on 23 Jun 2011:

      Absolutely – we should always try to recylce what we can.

      The average mobile phone contains about 24mg of gold, 250mg of silver, 9,000mg of copper, 3,800mg of cobalt, nine mg of palladium and a lots of other metals, chemicals and plastics. For people who collect recycled phones this can be big business!

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