What’s your phone worth? Estimating the resource value of stockpiled mobile phones

This paper estimates the number of mobile phones stockpiled by students in higher education in the UK, the USA, Germany and Australia and analyses the quantities and monetary worth of raw materials (strategic metals) embedded in the phones. We estimate that there are ~36.8 million mobile phones weighing ~3,685 tonnes in stockpile, containing ~1,200 tonnes of key metals with a monetary value of ~$120 million. Further analysis and comparisons are made regarding the embedded resource value of mobile phones versus their resale (reuse) value. The availability and market prices of precious and strategic metals as well as economies of scale (quantities of mobile phones stockpiled) are important factors in assessing the true worth of stockpiled mobile phones as opposed to per capita handset value