World survey reveals extent of mobile phone waste problem

The desire to own the latest technology is the biggest single reason given by people for upgrading their mobile phone, with 63% saying they upgrade their mobile more frequently than any other technology.

In Europe alone this year, some 100 million mobile phones, weighing a total of 250,000 tonnes are expected to be thrown away – creating challenges for both the recycling and waste handling industries (see our feature in The Recycler issue 143).

 

In a survey of 20,000 consumers worldwide, a GMIPoll found that owning the latest mobile was particularly important in 20 of the world’s top economies including the USA, UK, China, Russia and India.

 

But it is in the fastest growing and potentially largest markets, such as Asia and South America, that the proportion of consumers who are swapping older for the newest models is highest. 

 

In India and China nearly three quarters of respondents said they upgraded their mobile more frequently than any other technology, while in South America it is 67%. Just under half of Americans and 38% of French consumers followed suit.

 

While the march of technology is transforming the mobile phone market, it is also developing one of the world’s largest environmental headaches – how to handle the ‘mobile’ waste which is now growing faster than the volume of waste overall. Toxins associated with ‘mobile’ waste include heavy metals and poisons such as arsenic, lead, and mercury.

 

Allyson Stewart Allen, director of International Marketing Partners, says: “A lot of the international attention on e-waste focuses on legislation when the answer could be in product design. There is an opportunity for marketers to tap into ‘Generation Eco’ the young green early adopters that are tech savvy and planet conscious.  Marketers should explore designing responsible products that will retail at a premium.”

 

Additionally recycling programmes “are role model examples of excellent ‘problem solution’ marketing at work.” Stewart-Allen adds.

 

Environmental concerns, for the moment at least, do not figure highly in the purchasing decisions of people upgrading to new mobile phones.   According to the GMIPoll results, only 9% of American consumers and 12% of UK consumers take environmental impact into account when upgrading new technology.

 

Interestingly, in other parts of the world – particularly India and China – 20% and 26% respectively said environmental reasons could prohibit them from upgrading. 

 

Cost and terms of the contract are the overwhelming factors in buying a new model mobile, the GMIPoll found. Nearly eight in ten consumers surveyed saying this would stop them from upgrading.