With spring on the horizon and many Australians spending more time at home in lockdown, some of you may be considering giving your home a spring clean and dusting out the bottom drawer. According to MobileMuster, there are five million broken or no-longer-working mobile phones stashed away across Australia. If you have one, or maybe even two or three, this is your chance to give those old phones new life.
How can I recycle my old mobiles?
Even in lockdown, recycling mobile phones and accessories is easy! There are three simple ways to recycle them:
Download an Australia Post label and attach it to your own packaging. Drop off the package at any Australia Post red post box or your nearest post office. If you don’t have a printer, you can print it off at the post office! Just make sure you show the server at the post office the QR code you'll receive after completing the form.
Order a free satchel from MobileMuster. The satchel will be posted to you, so all you need to do is fill it up and drop it off at any Australia Post red box or your nearest post office.
If you’re one of the lucky Australians not currently in lockdown, there are still lots of recycling collection points located across the country. Drop them off at your local Optus, Telstra, Vodafone or Officeworks store, or visit Recycling Near You to find your closest drop-off point.
If your mobile is still working, consider extending its life by either selling it or passing it onto a friend or family member. Extending the life of a product is an important part of the circular economy that will reduce its environmental impact. Remember to delete or remove any data you want to keep. Visit MobileMuster for data management tips.
Why is recycling old mobiles good for the environment?
Mobile phones are made up of plastics and metals, more than 95 per cent of which can be recovered through recycling. Recycling these materials prevents ‘virgin’ or new resources (like metals or oil to make plastic) from being extracted from the ground, which in turn reduces greenhouse gas emissions. You can use the MobileMuster Calculator to find out the positive impact you’re making by recycling your phone.
MobileMuster is also carbon neutral, meaning all carbon emissions associated with the recycling program are offset through carbon credits and have net zero carbon impact. MobileMuster is the first product stewardship program in Australia to achieve carbon neutral certification under the national Climate Active standard (formally NCOS), offsetting their emissions through wind power and conservation projects.
What happens to my mobile when I recycle it?
When MobileMuster receives your old phone, they recover more than 95% of the plastics and metals, materials which are then used in the production of new products. No phones collected are refurbished or resold, which means any data remaining on the phone is destroyed in the dismantling and recycling process. If you’re still nervous about your data, MobileMuster has some great how-to videos that explain how to wipe the data from iPhone or Android devices before recycling.