The European Commission has recommended that member states encourage residents to return old and used mobile phones, tablets, laptops and chargers, which will contribute to strengthening the circular economy.
Very few old electrical appliances are collected in the EU. It is estimated that there are around 700 million old mobile phones in the drawers of European households.
Mobile phones are full of precious materials, which are considered critical raw materials, such as rare metals, cobalt, indium, tantalum, gallium and precious metals.
Over 700 million old mobile phones are in our drawers, almost two per inhabitant. Citizens do not know what to do with them, says the EU. They add that steps should be taken to make it easier for those devices to be returned, repaired or recycled.
Among other things, the European Commission recommends a financial incentive for the return of devices, to enable returns by mail with prepaid postage, to increase the visibility of the collection points for old electronic devices and to explain to citizens how to safely delete their data from those devices.