Go Greener

Mobile Phones

Did you know that 70% of the global population own a smartphone? That equates to an enormous 6.1 billion phones!

We use our phones for making calls, texting friends, booking holidays, reading the news and keeping in touch with the world.

However, there is no denying that there is a large impact on the environment from the mobile phone. Raw materials are extracted from the ground in order to create the energy needed to produce and use the phones. And, as you can imagine, with so many phones constantly being updated and people wanting the latest model, there is a significant amount of waste being created.

Between 2007 and 2017, approximately 7.1 billion mobile phones were produced. The energy needed to manufacture these phones was equal to the amount of energy needed to power India for a year! And that doesn’t include any energy needed to charge a phone.

Mobile phones have taken over the energy usage of laptops and PCs and it is predicted that by 2040, the information and communications sector will create 14% of the world’s global emissions.

So how do phones have an impact on the environment?

• Minerals (including iron, copper, aluminium and gold) and are mined from the ground in order to create the phones. Chemicals are used to help the extraction and wastewater and toxic waste is produced as a result.
• Cobalt is another ingredient used to make mobiles and it has been linked to child labour in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
• E-waste is also another issue to consider. In developing countries, recycling often happens without protections for workers who handle the heavy metals and toxins.

What can you do?

• Unplug your phone charger when you are not using it and save energy and money on your bill. (It has been estimated that if 10% of phones users unplugged their phone when completely charged, the energy saved could power 60,000 Europeans’ homes).
• Turn down the screen’s brightness to make the battery last longer.
• Keep your current phone for longer and only upgrade when needed. Update your software, and delete apps and files not needed to make it perform better.
• Sell or trade your old phone.
• Donate old phones to charity where they are refurbished and sold to make funds.
• Recycle your old phones to collection points like Optus, Telsta, Vodafone and Officeworks as well as many local libraries. Search Mobile Muster for more information.
• When buying a new phone, research and ask questions in relation to the responsible and ethical nature of a phone’s raw materials and the working conditions used to create the phone.

Laura Tennant
Primary Enviro Girls Coordinator