3 Environmental and Social Issues
The following is a brief précis of the environmental and social issues arising from disposal of cell phones. It does not cover issues applicable to other sections of the cell phone life-cycle - for example, packaging or Electro-magnetic Frequency (EMF). As described in Section 1.1, this study focuses on cell phone disposal - either at landfill, being discarded, or being collected for refurbishment or recycling.
Phones going to landfills
In New Zealand, approximately 3.5 million people now have a cell phone and they upgrade these, on average, once every 18 months. [Ministry for the Environment/UMR Research. January 2006.Electronic and Electrical Equipment Survey. A quantitative report.] On this basis, 2.3 million cell phones per year could become obsolete or no longer in use in New Zealand.
Cell phone are part of a growing waste stream. On the basis of anecdotal evidence from Telecom and Vodafone and initial results of some recent market survey work, [Ibid.] the most common disposal for mobile phones are "gave it to a friend or family member" or "stored it". Approximately 14% of phones were actually discarded - presumably to a waste bin and therefore landfill. On this basis, 14% of 2.3 million cell phones, or approximately 320,000 phones, are going to landfill every year.
Recent consumer research in Australia [Vodafone New Zealand.Corporate Responsibility Report 2004-2005.] suggests that less than 10% of all old mobile phones are actually discarded. This situation reflects the value placed on the mobile phone (and similarly other electronic equipment such as laptops) and the consumer's resistance to dispose of the item. This is likely to be a transitory situation. As mobile phones become more regularly replaced and cheaper, consumers will become increasingly comfortable with the idea of disposing of their old phone.
The numbers of cell phones that could potentially be disposed of at landfills is a significant environmental concern internationally. In New Zealand, the estimated volumes of cell phones currently being disposed of in landfills (320,000 phones per annum or, at 130 grams per phone, about 50 tonnes) is not considered by the sector as a significant environmental concern from a volume perspective. This could, however, grow as more and more phones are considered as disposal items.
Although disposed cell phone volume is not great enough to constitute an issue in terms of landfill space, there is the potential for groundwater contamination issues arising from leachate of chemicals from cell phones and their batteries. In early 2004, the University of Florida conducted a study of the toxicity of cell phone leachate characteristics. [RCRA Toxicity Characterisation of Computer CPUs and other Discarded Electronic Devices. August 2004.] The study showed that cell phones (dismantled and exposed directly to leachate producing solutions in accordance with the standard Environmental Protection Authority Toxicity Characteristic Leaching Procedure (TCLP)) did generate leachate lead concentrations higher than acceptable levels.
Fortunately, the potentially toxic components of batteries such as cadmium and lead are being increasingly phased out. Sony Ericsson was the first manufacturer to phase out nickel-cadmium batteries in all its mobile phones, and has been working to eliminate lead, halogenated flame retardants and hexavalent chromium as well.
Loose batteries also represent a potential fire risk at landfills.
Phones being refurbished and on-sold
In Europe approximately three quarters of all returned handsets are reconditioned and exported for sale in less developed mobile phone markets. There is thus a definite demand for take-back schemes and facilities to recondition and recycle phones. Significant markets identified by Telecom for their phones are China and India, both of which have significant populations with limited access to income for the purchase of new handsets.
Any proposed refurbishment and on-selling of phones would need to take account of the proposed disposal practices within the country receiving the product. Otherwise, there is a risk of transferring the landfill disposal environmental issues from one country to another. Landfill guidelines and controls in developing countries, for example, may not be as stringent as New Zealand (such as not including requirements for liners and leachate treatment).
Vodafone recently launched a project to assess the socioeconomic impact of mobiles (SIM) in poor countries. The project found second hand phones to be highly beneficial to low-income countries. In Tanzania, for example, only 28% of people in the community survey said they could access a fixed line somewhere in the community, compared with 97% who could access a mobile phone. Mobile networks are easier, cheaper and more flexible to deploy than fixed line communications, and mobile coverage delivers a basic infrastructure of communication to communities that may otherwise be isolated.
Phones to recycling
There are a growing number of facilities internationally that will sort, dissemble and recycle phone components. These include Shields MRI in Australia, AER internationally and Shields in the United Kingdom.
MRI Australia offers end-of-life and end-of-use solutions for computer and telecommunications equipment through environmentally innovative refurbishment, remarketing and recycling. MRI are responsible for recycling all phones collected through the Australian Mobile telecommunications network (AMTA), which is fully explained in Section 5.
AER Worldwide is a leading de-manufacturer with a focus on the redistribution of components and electronic waste stream recycling, providing close-to-source material sorting and destruction services by eliminating unnecessary shipping cost of low value, highly recyclable materials such as steel, base metals, paper and cardboard for customers around the world. The company also tracks, audits and reports downstream material flows on a lot by lot basis.
Shields Environmental is a UK-based company which provides the telecommunications industry with environmental management solutions and recycling support for all types of network equipment and mobile phones globally. Fonebak is a phone take-back scheme developed by Shields Environmental. It is the world's first mobile phone recycling scheme to comply with all current and forthcoming environmental legislation. Phones are refurbished to provide affordable communication in developing countries where the cost of new handsets is prohibitively expensive.
A summary flow chart of the Shields recycling processes is included below.
