THE IMPORTANCE OF MANAGING OUR ELECTRONIC DEVICES

Nowadays, we cannot imagine spending more than a few hours without our mobile phones, which are so widely used in our daily lives, both at work and in our personal lives. In Spain alone, more than 20 million devices are disposed of every year, of which only 25% are repaired for reuse and reintroduced into the market, while 10% are left at a recycling point, leaving 70% unaccounted for.

How can we help ensure that all these phones, and the rest of our electronic devices, are properly managed and do not end up in landfills or natural areas?

• By repairing and reusing the devices we already have, for example; if our cell phone screen is broken, we should try to get it repaired rather than exchange it for a completely new one.
• When its service life is over and we can no longer use it or repair it in any way, we must take it to recycling sites. In the city of Madrid, cell phones and minor electrical appliances are collected at the three types of existing Puntos Limpios o Clean Points: mobile clean points (1 unit), proximity clean points (1 unit) and fixed clean points (domestic production). In addition, they are also collected by other specialized establishments or organizations.  You can check all the details here.

Our mobile phones are made of materials such as plastic (the casing), steel, copper and other metals such as aluminium, silver or coltan. Of these, 90 to 97% can be recycled and those that cannot, such as batteries, can be set aside and taken to specific treatment plants for safe disposal so they do not end up polluting the planet’s soil and water.

In addition, one of the materials used for the processors of many electronic devices such as cell phones, tablets, computers or even in surgeries is coltan, which entails an added serious environmental and social problem. A scarce but very efficient mineral that we must conserve so that we do not have to continue extracting it from nature and aggravating these problems.

By buying new appliances only when ours can no longer be used and trying not to fall for the trend of changing them after only a short time, or as a last resort, donating them to charitable organizations that collect them to give them a second life, we will be helping to reduce the rate at which this type of waste is discarded, which increases three times faster than the rest of municipal solid waste.

Don’t switch off from caring for the planet when you switch on your mobile!