Join the mine
By using mobile phones responsibly, we can help to alleviate some of their negative impacts. Using mobile phones responsibly entails using a mobile phone for as long as possible before replacing it, repairing rather than replacing broken devices, selling or donating working mobile phones that are not in use and recycling mobile phones that do not work anymore.
Although the mobile phone recycling rate in Switzerland is almost ten times higher than the world average, we still have a long way to go. We are replacing mobile phones at an increasing rate: a recent representative survey among the Swiss population, conducted by the Development Economics Group at ETH, found that we replace our mobile phones, on average, every 27 months. More than 80% of mobile phones in Switzerland do not have a third birthday, and almost 70% of mobile phones do not even have a second birthday. Moreover, the researchers found that most people do not recycle, donate or sell their old mobile phones, but rather keep them at home. About 70% of all Swiss households have at least one unused mobile phone somewhere in a drawer. Half of the households even have two or more mobile phones at home. More than a fifth of Swiss residents who still have their previous mobile phone at home do not really know why they keep it. About 40% of respondents said that their old mobile phone is not working anymore or they are not sure if it is still working.
During the month of October, mobile phones can sent to:
The Urban Mining Project
ETH Zurich
Clausiusstrasse 37
8092 Zurich