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Cited by 57Recycling and Waste Management TechniquesExtraction and Separation ProcessesRecycling and utilization of industrial and municipal waste in materials production

Critical and strategic metals in mobile phones: A detailed characterisation of multigenerational waste mobile phones and the economic drivers for recovery of metal value

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Gómez, Moisés, Grimes, Sue, Qian, Yuting, Feng, Yexin, Fowler, Geoff·2023·Journal of Cleaner Production
DOI 10.1016/j.jclepro.2023.138099
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Abstract

Mobile phones have a high embedded value of interest within a circular economy. With the number of devices operating worldwide expected to reach 18bn by 2025 their low recycling rate leads to large tonnages of End-of-Life Mobile Phones (EoL-MPs) and de facto a challenging waste stream. The rapid replacement of mobile phones to meet consumer demand further compounds the challenges due to increased demand for raw materials, increased energy, and water consumption, and, where uncontrolled and poor disposal at end-of-life occurs, significant impacts on health and the environment. EoL-MPs comprise a complex and heterogeneous combination of materials that include strategically and economically important high technology metals, many of which are classified as critical by the EU. A detailed characterisation of key components (PCBs, casings, screens, cameras, and speakers) of multigenerational (feature, multimedia, and smartphones) EoL-MPs is studied to determine the potential for recovery of both metal and non-metallic fractions and the economic drivers for recovery of the metal value. On average, the major mass fraction distributed in a mobile phone is: plastics (40%), metals (35%) and ceramics (25%). The results show that 1 tonne of EoL-MPs can contain up to 53 Kg copper, 141 g gold, 270 g silver, 10 g platinum, 18 g palladium and 3.3 kg rare earth elements, among other valuable metals, with many of these elements found to be at least twice, and in some cases, up to 600 times more concentrated than in their natural ores. The calculated economic value of the EoL-MPs components is in the order: cameras (86,860 US$/ton), printed circuit boards (55,459 US$/ton), speakers (21,853 US$/ton) and screens (3,779 US$/ton). Based on the predicted 5 billion EoL-MPs discarded by the end of 2022, this waste stream has a potential economic value of US$ 9.25 billion. Use of EoL-MPs as a secondary resource-rich stream of these critical materials therefore offers a route to close the materials loop, helps to mitigate the threat to natural resources and the environmental and human health impacts arising from mining operations, relieves supply demands and contributes to the economy.

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  • A systemic approach to value creation necessitates optimising for end-of-life value recovery through design choices that enable easier disassembly and high-quality material recovery.

    “Such a systemic approach also necessitates optimising for EoL value recovery through design choices that enable easier disassembly and high-quality material recovery (Pamminger et al. 2021;Gómez et al. 2023).”

    From Integrating Life Cycle Assessment, Monetised Externalities and Value Alignment for Strategic Reconfiguration of Circular Business Models: The Case of Smartphones (2026) · cites this paper as Gómez et al. 2023

    Section 3.1 says components fastened with screws or rivets are easier to separate than materials joined by welding, binding or coating. The Introduction links component separation to material recovery, but the paper does not explicitly argue that a systemic approach necessitates design optimisation for high-quality end-of-life recovery. Page numbers were not available in our copy. (LLM, conf=0.83)

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Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Gómez, M., Grimes, S., Qian, Y., Feng, Y., & Fowler, G.
Affiliations
Imperial College London (GB)
Corresponding author
Grimes, Sue
ORCID
Venue
Journal of Cleaner Production
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2023-09
Volume
419
Pages
138099
ISSN
0959-6526 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1016/j.jclepro.2023.138099
OpenAlex
W4384207573
Cited by
57
References
2
Citations by year
2026: 18 · 2025: 21 · 2024: 14 · 2023: 4
FWCI
10.10
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Journal of Cleaner Production (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • Spiral (Imperial College London) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
Funders
Comisión Nacional de Investigación Científica y Tecnológica (72180123)
Topics
  • Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Waste Management and Disposal › Recycling and Waste Management Techniques
  • Physical Sciences › Engineering › Mechanical Engineering › Extraction and Separation Processes
  • Physical Sciences › Engineering › Building and Construction › Recycling and utilization of industrial and municipal waste in materials production
Keywords
critical metals, strategic metals, metal recovery, circular economy, printed circuit boards, rare earth elements, copper, gold, silver, platinum, palladium, economic value of waste, secondary raw materials

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