Apparently, many consumers worldwide throw it away or just chuck it aside in their drawers.
A global consumer survey by Finnish mobile phone giant Nokia, released this week, revealed that only 3 per cent of mobile phone users recycle their unwanted devices.
Of 6,500 people surveyed in 13 countries including China, Russia, Sweden, UK and the US, 44 per cent simply keep their unused mobile devices at home.
Nearly half of those surveyed were unaware that recycling such phones is even an option.
Though Singapore was not included in the survey, Asian countries such as India and Indonesia were shown to be the least aware that mobile phones can be recycled.
While the trend here is to resell usable mobile phones to second hand shops or pass them on to friends or family, a straw poll of local consumers my paper spoke to said they had never recycled one.
Tech-savvy Singaporeans switch mobile phones every 12 to 18 months on average, said a recent media report.
Engineering assistant Hanis Farina Mohd Ariffin told my paper: "I didn't even know old phones could be recycled. It's definitely better than leaving them at home."
The 24-year-old has four unused mobile phones at home.
Some 20 to 50 million tonnes of electronics waste is reportedly produced globally every year, a media report said.
Mobile phones and other electronics may leak toxic chemicals and metals into the environment if not disposed of correctly. That is why student Evan Sabnani, 20, felt that companies ought to raise more awareness about the importance of recycling such devices.
He said: "What's the point of having such efforts in place if no one knows about them?"
For example, Motorola has a recycling initiative in place here to help customers recycle its products. It's called Ecomoto Takeback and it encourages consumers to simply drop off their end-of-life Motorola products in bins at selected locations.
Nokia users can also drop off their devices at any Nokia Care Center. They are then sent to the nearest approved recycling company. Besides mobile phones, broadband devices, batteries and accessories such as chargers can also be dropped off.
