Environfone, a leading UK mobile phone recycling company, has sponsored a recent survey that has discovered there is a mountain of electronic gadgets, including mobile phones, needing to be recycled. The mountain is so huge that it is estimated that the value of old electronic items sitting around could go towards paying off about 20% of the UK’s enormous debt. As much as 33% of electronic products, valued at £28 billion will be discarded this year. Sadly most of it will end up in landfill sites in the UK and overseas rather than being recycled.
The average household in Scotland possesses as much as £110 in redundant electronic equipment. This is made up of mobile phones, MP3 players, DVD and CD players, together with games consoles and represents goods running into thousands of pounds in value.
Many items have not even been used because they were unwanted gifts. Other products have quickly become last year’s model and over the last 12 months people have thrown out gadgets totalling one million tones.
A recent report from the Scottish Government supports Envirofone’s findings. The Zero Waste Scotland scheme indicates less than 33% of WEEE waste has been recycled properly. The recycling news from other regions of the UK is apparently even worse. There is around £350 of unused electrical items for each household in Yorkshire for instance. The excessive levels of electronic waste being produced are worrying, especially during an economic downturn.