June 5th is World Environment Day
World Environment Day 2019
June 5th has been designated as World Environment Day by the UN, to promote awareness and action for the protection of our environment. Humans, more than any other species on earth, have the ability to alter the environment for both good and for ill. More so than ever before, it is time we woke up to the damage we are causing and the small changes we can each make in our day-to-day lives to change the planet for the better.
The theme of 2019’s World Environment Day is ‘Beat Air Pollution’. You may not have realized, but the mobile phones we use so extensively in our lives play a big part in producing pollutants that effect our environment. It’s not just industry and the physical manufacturing of phones that causes pollution, having them transported all over the world for sale in shops also results in increased production of harmful gasses and toxins. What’s more, when we throw our old phones away, this too causes harm to our environment. It’s time for us to each individually take responsibility and realise how our consumer culture damages our planet.
More phones on the planet than humans?
The number of mobile phones on the planet is growing five times faster than the number of people. In fact, mobile phones have already overtaken the human population as there are more the 7.2 billion phones in existence, based on the number of SIM cards that are active.
150+ million phones dumped a year!
Some cell phone waste statistics are astonishing. For example, it’s estimated that 350,000 mobile phones were dumped every day in 2010. That adds up to over 152 million phones a year.
18 month phone to user life cycle
Most people only use their phone for about 18 months before upgrading despite devices having a useable lifespan of about seven years. That’s a terrible waste.
But mobile phones can change lives
One of the most positive facts about cell phone recycling concerns the impact they have in developing countries. People can buy recycled phones cheaper than they can buy a new phone, giving them a way to communicate. This is particularly important as many people in these countries don’t have landlines. In addition, recycled phones are used to transfer money and used in business, helping the economy.
RueZone understands that re-use is the best form of recycling
The UK has one of the worst records on electronic waste in the world. In 2016, every person in the UK generated a whopping 25kg of electronic waste – this includes items like laptops, tablets, computers and mobile phones that are just dumped in landfills or forgotten about at the back of cupboards or drawers.
In fact, it’s estimated that on average, a household contains four mobile devices that are just lying around, forgotten and unused. This is bad, because that unloved old phone could be given to someone else to use at an affordable price, either here in the UK, or in a developing country.
Our mission is to promote the idea that re-use is the best form of recycling.
We believe the more second-hand devices in use the better. It means that the big manufacturers like Apple, Samsung and Huawei don’t need to produce quite so many new mobiles to meet demand, preventing the damage that mobile phone manufacturing and supply does to the environment.
Luckily, people are starting to realise the importance of electronic device recycling and how it can help the planet and protect the environment.
This World Environment Day, help beat air pollution and recycle your mobile!
