Potentials of WEEE in the Circular Economy – An Analysis of Home-stored Discarded Mobile Phones

The need to better use waste from electric and electronic equipment (WEEE) is discussed due to the increasing scarcity of rare materials like metals needed in the industrial context. Also, environmental damage during the mining processes, social and political problems are accelerating the process of using waste as a strategic resource, especially in countries lacking mineral resources. Their high spread among users and short lifecycle puts attention to mobile phones and the related electronic waste. Besides that, they represent a good example of the difficult collection and waste processing of small unwired electronic devices. One example of a possible waste history is the storing of discarded mobile phones in private households. This leads to a high and steadily growing number of devices in German households, on which this paper focuses on. Based on the amounts of different metals in mobile phones and their recycling rates, the circulation potential based in the available amount of material and the referring amount of new produced mobile phones is simulated and the actual weaknesses, future potentials and needed requirements of mobile phones and WEEE as an urban mining source are pointed out.