There are 17.7 million unused smartphones in Belgian households, containing 632.4 tonnes of critical raw materials like cobalt, gold, and tin, according to a study revealed on Thursday.
The research was conducted by Refurbed, a company specialising in refurbished products, in partnership with Fraunhofer Austria Research. It highlights the significant amount of valuable materials being left unused.
Of these smartphones, 5.7 million are less than three years old and could be refurbished. Kilian Kaminski, co-founder of refurbed, explained that these devices could be restored and resold for €150 to €200, but instead remain idle.
The remaining 12 million phones in Belgian households are too old for refurbishment but can be recycled to extract critical materials. Recycling these devices in Belgium alone could recover 632.4 tonnes of raw materials like cobalt and 14.4 tonnes of conflict minerals such as gold, valued at €29.35 million.
The issue extends across Europe, where 642 million unused smartphones lie dormant in households. Of these, 431 million are only suitable for recycling.
Together, they hold over 5,000 tonnes of cobalt, 431 tonnes of tin, and 8.62 tonnes of gold, representing an estimated material value of €1.1 billion.
