Why recycle

• Mobile phones are, on average, only used for 12 to 24 months before they are replaced by new handsets. As a result, over 100 million mobile phones are unused in Europe every year, and that number is growing all the time.

• It's illegal to put your old handsets in household waste

• There are estimated to be 66 million old and unused mobile phones in the UK

• Less than 10% of these are recycled

• Around 24.5 million phones are upgraded each and every year – which would mean the "phone mountain" is potentially increasing year on year by at least 17.9 million phones. That’s one big pile of circuit boards!

• Phones can add to the to the burden of landfill and potential toxins from batteries and plastics can leak into the ground

• Every phone can either be re-used or recycled?

• Re-use of phones is better for the environment – no new raw materials are required, and the life of the phone is extended