There may be gold in them thar’ hills, but recent studies have shown there is now more in a pound of electronic equipment which we make and then discard year after year. Statistics show that a ton of iPhones contain 324 times more gold than a ton of ore mined from the ground. Silver and other precious metals are also used in the manufacturing process, and until quite recently we have been digging up all these non-renewable resources and discarding the end products when they are no longer fashionable.
As the demand for new technology grows, so does the amount of obsolete items, and until recently there was very little done in the way of recycling these products. Now that it has been proved money can be made from their components more people are becoming aware of the value of their old mobile phones. Urban mining has become a big business, so what was once simply waste is suddenly seen as a valuable resource.
As each new generation of iPhone is released onto the market the number of searches for iPhone recycling on Google increases and hopefully our infographic will encourage more people to dispose of their old phones sensibly.
Take a look at this infographic by 911metallurgist.com/mining-iphones/ for a break down of your iPhone.
