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Phone recycling doubles as CDMA killed off

By Liam Tung, ZDNet.com.au on April 29th, 2008

Topics

atma, cdma, mobile phone, mri, battery, green, lead, plastic, recycling

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The number of phones being handed in for recycling has sky-rocketed in NSW and Victoria in the lead up to Telstra's shutdown of its CDMA network.

"We've seen double our normal volumes and that's predominantly because of the upcoming CDMA closure," managing director of e-waste recycler Will LeMessurier told ZDNet.com.au.

A month would normally see the recycling company process 10 tons of mobile phones under the Australian Mobile Telecommunications Association (ATMA) Mobile Muster take-back program, however, LeMessurier said Telstra's CDMA closure has seen that grow to 20 tons.

"It's been a kick start — anything from accessories and phones that networks are clearing out of stores," he said.

While around 1.2 million Australian mobile phones become redundant each year, less than half of these are recycled — leaving some 640,000 units to be dumped in landfill.

What happens to the phones?
LeMessurier's company disassembles the phones at two plants in Sydney's west and Melbourne. Circuit boards, plastic accessories, and batteries make up the bulk of the materials processed.

MRI separates high from low value components, as well as ferrous from non-metal materials, after which each type of material is sent either to landfill, or offshore recycling companies that specialise in dealing with certain materials.

Circuit boards — the highest value component — are sent by MRI to an ISO 14000 accredited site in South Korea.

"The handsets are broken apart and the circuit boards sent to South Korea. You get about 50,000 boards per ton, which you might get one-and-a-half to two kilograms per ton of gold out of after processing fees."

Compared to gold mining extraction rates, the figure is quite high — a mine operator would be happy with 15 grams per ton, said Le Messurier.

Although the mobile phone industry has phased out lead in the solder used on circuit boards, many of the phones being recycled today were manufactured 15 years ago and contain harmful materials.

Batteries, another major pollutant of the mobile phone industry, no longer contain harmful elements such as nickel cadmium. Instead, the mobile industry has turned to lithium-ion, lessening the risk for workers who handle the batteries.

"Lithium-ion is classed as a non-hazardous material and is more an occupational health and safety issue because of the effect of lithium in the presence of moisture, which gives off hydrogen and contains very small quantities of lithium — less than one percent. It is under review and may change," said LeMessurier.

Many of the batteries used in mobile phones are exported to South Korea, said LeMessurier.

Compared to the computer industry, LeMessurier said the mobile phone industry's environmental standards are higher.

"There is a huge quantity of white box component assemblers who don't care about design for disassembly. That's because the computer industry is much more fragmented, whereas the mobile phone industry is a closed shop," he said.

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Talkback

Reuse of phones?

Can these phones be re-used on other networks? I know I moved from Telstra to Voda with the change of a sim and am still paying about $10 per month for this service.

SimonSimon April 29th, 2008
Report offensive content Reply (0) (0)

HIghly informed person

CDMA uses what is known as an ESN and does not have a SIM card. Sure it could be reused if you are planning to move to the US or China but do it quick before they switch theirs off in the next 2 - 5 years.

HarryHarry April 29th, 2008
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My old phone collection

The mobile industry has been concerned about the environmental impact of used handsets and in looking at why people don't recycle they found that a lot of people like to keep their old phones 'just in case'. Also and more importantly, there's no incentive to recycle and mobile operators and vendors have challenges in accommodating recycling due to the need to reverse their supply chain. There should be more incentive for consumers to recycle and a greater role in responsible regulation to reduce the negative impact of mobiles and e-waste more broadly. The mobile-muster campaign is a fantastic idea, where for every phone handed-in, a tree is planted.
www.mobileaus.blogspot.com

SWalkerSWalker April 29th, 2008
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Recycling Stats

An add-on to my last post.
A 2006 study by AMTA of 650 people found (its a bit superficial but here goes)

52% of people keep their old phones (whether working or not
23% give them away to family and friends, employer or retailer
5% throw them away
4% are lost/stolen
4% recycle them
4% traded them in
1% sold them
1% donated to charity
2% don't know
www.mobileaus.blogspot.com

SWalkerSWalker April 29th, 2008
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