To make mobile phones, we mine raw materials from the ground.
These are transformed into different parts and assembled into phones.
Some factories can produce more than 100,000 phones in a single day!
Every year, mobile phones become smaller, lighter and 'smarter'.
Most old phones end up gathering dust in our drawers!
Some old phones are repaired and reused. Some are taken apart by hand to recover materials.
Millions of phones and all the valuable materials they contain are thrown away every year.
Based on the original book ‘How We Make Stuff’ by Christiane Dorion, Templar Publishing, 2012.
Website text by Christiane Dorion - Design by Harriet Pellereau.
© 2012 Ellen MacArthur Foundation - Illustration © Beverley Young - Text © Christiane Dorion