The Global Telecommunications Carriers Association (GSMA) and twelve carriers announced on Tuesday a series of commitments to address the “more than five billion” mobile phones, currently out of use around the world, that could be “repurposed.” or “recycled”.
The twelve operators (BT, Orange, Telefónica, Iliad, etc.) have committed that by 2030 the number of mobile devices used in the framework of recovery programs will represent “at least 20%” of the number of new ones. mobile devices distributed directly to customers, or even that “100% of used mobile devices collected” as part of take-back programs are “repaired, reused, or transferred to controlled recycling organizations.”
“The GSMA estimates that by properly recycling 5 billion mobile phones, $8 billion worth of gold, palladium, silver, copper, rare earths and other critical minerals could be recovered, along with enough cobalt to produce 10 million batteries. of electric cars,” they said. he told her in a joint statement.
Growth of refurbished smartphones
After a slow start in the early 2010s, the sector has seen a marked acceleration in recent years, both in terms of reconditioning (repairing used devices) and component recycling (metals, rare earths, plastics, etc.). ).
According to research firm Mordor Intelligence, the refurbished smartphone market should grow 10% annually by 2027, with notable progress in the Asian market, particularly India and Indonesia.
According to Persistence Market Research, sales of recycled laptops are expected to grow from $49.9 billion in 2020 to $143.8 billion in 2031.
Source: BFM TV
