A recent Reuters wire story (picked up here in the International Herald Tribune) describes the new trend of "urban mining" - of recovering gold, silver, copper, iridium and other precious metals from discarded cell phones and other consumer electronics.

According to the article, a ton of used cellular phones contains far more gold than an equal amount of ore from a gold mine. Ditto for silver and copper. Estimates vary, but there are tens (or possibly even hundreds) of millions of cell phones taken out of service every year as users upgrade to newer models. These end up in landfill, or at the bottom of the sock drawer.

And another use for used phones - Zurado Systems, from California, also wants your used cell phones. They want to reprogram them for use as portable kiosks.

There is clearly a real business opportunity in the recovery of used mobile phones and computers for smart entrepreneurs able to devise an efficient collection system. What are your ideas?

Graeme Spicer is a Canadian trendspotter, ethnographer and observer of all things retail. As Director of Retail Strategy at DW+Partners he spends his time consulting with leading retailers; presenting at conferences across North America; lecturing at OCAD, Canada's leading design school; and reading too many blogs.

Graeme Spicer @ 6:56 PM  |  Services  |  Comments (4)  |  Article Link  |  Share

There are 4 responses to "Urban Mining".

the ideal is a great one, bringing life into millions of used phones. i can supply damaged and abardoned mobile phones from nigeria, as this is a great and life time opportunity.

muhammed s bolaji
lagos nigeria

I am interested on the business possibilities for mining precious metals from junked cellphones. I am from the Philippines and there are a lot of unused phones around. I dont want to pass up at this development. Can u give leads as to who would be interested to buy and how. thanks

Hi, I am from India the 2nd largest and fastest growing cell phone market in the world. Please let me know if this is a real opportunity. And how do I start on this, is there a project report.
Can you give leads on how to develop the biz.

hello my name is Michael. I deal commodities in US.
I could get you buyers for your used cell phones and household electronics. You can contact me @
mikekimdc@hotmail.com

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