Donal Hickey: A mountain of unused smartphones but 80% are recyclable

More than 80% of a mobile phone is recyclable. The precious metals, plastics, and silver it contains can be extracted and re-used. If phones go to landfill they can cause pollution and contaminate soil and water

At this stage, many households in Ireland probably have an old mobile phone in a drawer, or a forgotten box with other discarded electrical items.

Vodafone, which estimates there are around five million used mobiles in Ireland, has been running campaigns urging people to recycle these devices, replicating similar efforts by the EU, the Government and environmental groups here.

Upwards of 80% of a mobile phone is recyclable. The precious metals, plastics and silver it contains can be extracted and re-used. If phones go to landfill they can cause pollution and contaminate soil and water.

Many of the materials in a phone are mined from the earth, a practice which can be very destructive, so it makes environmental sense to reclaim these metals for re-use rather than mining new ones.

Vodafone Ireland campaign aimed at tackling the growing problem of e-waste by encouraging people to recycle their unused smartphones. Vodafone staff member Judy Collins with Ann Smith from Montenotte, pictured here at the Vodafone store on Oliver Plunkett Street in Cork promoting Vodafone’s smartphone recycling service

Vodafone is offering a trade-in service and the company’s huge billboard signs can be seen on Summerhill North Road, Cork, as well as in Dublin and Galway. There are also several other ways of recycling phones, including WEEE and civic amenity centres, while people can also give them to charities which sell them on for recycling.

We’re buying more and more such phones. In 2020, 3.7m Irish people had a mobile; the figure today is around 5m; by 2029, it’s projected to be 5.2m — one for every person in the population.

Launched here by Eircell, in 1985, mobile take-up was slow initially and seen as a sort of yuppie trend. But around 96% of people here now have a smartphone, research by Deloitte shows.

We remember how in the 1997 general election, colourful Kerry politician Jackie Healy-Rae aroused talk and curiosity when he pulled out his mobile and engaged in animated conversation during his campaign.

Usage began to rise markedly around the turn of the century: 40% of us had the device by the year 2000. The average European household now buys a mobile phone every 2.5 years.

Though many people say they would like to reduce the amount of time spent on their phone, it is still the preferred device for banking, online searches, shopping, games and payments. There are moves at EU level to have passports on mobiles.

A total of 98% of 18-75 year-olds use their smartphones every day, with 74% saying they so as soon as they wake up, according to Deloitte.

Finally, a personal gripe... The pub, as a haven of good conversation (once upon a time!), is falling silent as people sit there perusing their mobiles. Is it not time for this intrusive contraption to be banned from this fading refuge of a man, or woman, who just likes a friendly chat?