A collection box for discarded mobile phones and smartphones is now available at the AStA.

The campaign aims to collect old mobile phones and smartphones that are lying around unused at students’ and university members’ homes and to donate them via the provider Mobile-Box. Mobile-Box is legally certified to collect and process old mobile phones [1].

In Germany, we hoard a total of around 210 million discarded mobile phones and smartphones, according to projections by the digital association Bitkom [2]. Many of these devices are only partially damaged, which means that although repairing them is not worthwhile for a private individual, the components and raw materials can be recycled and fed into a circular economy without any problems. It is well known that smartphones contain some raw materials that are considered “critical raw materials”. The problem is that they are not only becoming increasingly scarce, but are also mined under inhumane conditions in most cases [3]. This makes it all the more important to recycle the unused devices.

What is to be done?

Those who want to donate old mobile phones and smartphones should consider the following:

1) Back up any remaining data and reset the device to factory settings.

2) remove SIM and memory cards

3) old chargers can also be handed in.

This is a fundraiser, so you don’t get anything in return for the donated equipment.