MobileMuster is the mobile phone industry's recycling program. It aims to keep mobile phone products out of landfill and recycle them in a safe, secure and ethical way.
Australians are among the highest users of technology and produce around 25kg of electronic waste each year. By recycling mobiles, consumers and businesses can avoid future greenhouse gas emissions, save energy, protect the environment and conserve natural resources. They can also prevent potentially hazardous materials from entering the environment.
The mobile phone industry is committed to reducing the environmental and health impact of their products. This includes improving how efficiently resources are used, ensuring collected mobiles are recycled to the highest standards, minimising waste across product life cycles, and reducing risk to human health through better management of manufacture and disposal.
MobileMuster’s partnership with the Australian Government
MobileMuster gained accreditation in 2014 under the Product Stewardship Act 2011 which provides a framework to effectively address the environmental, health and safety impacts of a product or material across its life cycle.
It is administered by the Australian Mobile Telecommunications Association (AMTA) on behalf of the mobile phone industry. Members of the scheme include all major handset manufacturers (Microsoft, Samsung, Motorola, HTC, Huawei, HMD Global, ZTE, Alcatel, Oppo, Google and Apple) and all the network carriers (Telstra, Optus, Vodafone and Virgin Mobile). The members voluntarily fund the promotion, collection and recycling of mobile phones, their batteries, chargers, accessories, mobile modems and smart watches.
Recycling mobile phones and accessories around Australia
MobileMuster delivers a free mobile recycling service to everyone, working with workplaces, retailers, local councils and schools to make recycling easy and accessible. It accepts all brands of mobile phones, their batteries, chargers and accessories. Everything collected by MobileMuster is recycled for recovery and reuse, nothing is resold and any data left on mobiles is destroyed in the recycling process.
MobileMuster has over 3,500 public drop off points across the country along with a free post back option, making it easy for users to recycle their old mobiles and accessories.
Over 11 million handsets and batteries have been recycled since the program started. It has a 99 per cent recovery rate and has saved 1,323 tonnes from landfill.
Promoting phone recycling in partnership with charities and schools
MobileMuster partnering with Ozharvest to recycle mobiles for charity
Every year the arrangement runs a major national campaign to raise awareness, and drive collections. In 2016-17 MobileMuster partnered with OzHarvest to do this, and at the same time tackle e-waste and food waste. For every mobile phone recycled between December 2016 and January 2017, MobileMuster donated the value of a meal to OzHarvest to feed Australian’s in need. The campaign recycled over 60,000 mobiles and donated the value of 60,000 meals.
MobileMuster also has a schools program that educates students on the benefits and need to recycle mobile phones. The program is supported with online resources, such as learning modules, games, and videos to make the learning process more fun and interactive.
How industries can participate in product stewardship
Industries, such as the mobile phone industry, are taking action to reduce the impact their products have on the environment and people’s health and safety, by agreeing to form voluntary product stewardship arrangements.
To further promote the credibility of these arrangement, they can apply to become accredited by the Australian Government.
Further information
- MobileMuster website and drop-off points
- MobileMuster annual reports
- Voluntary product stewardship
- Accredited voluntary product stewardship arrangements
Contact us
For more information on product stewardship, please call 1800 423 135 or email wastepolicy@environment.gov.au