Unaccounted for mobile phones in the province of British Columbia

While we know how many mobile phones get recycled through the Recycle My Cell program in Canada, we know much less about the ones that dont make it into these type of take-back programs. Over the past few years academic research on the topic of mobile phone waste has increased dramatically, although a recent study shows that only about 6% of this research has focused on the North American market. This research project will try to fill in some of the gaps by using material flow analysis and stakeholder interviews to get a better picture of the mobile phone waste landscape in the province of British Columbia. Findings from this study can be used to develop better industry and regulatory strategies for increasing the number of mobile phones that are recycled.

Faculty Supervisor:

Jennifer Lynes

Student:

Christopher Beninger

Partner:

Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association

Discipline:

Environmental sciences

Sector:

Environmental industry

University:

University of Waterloo