<![CDATA[There are around 700 million unused phones in EU homes.]]>There are around 700 million unused phones in EU homes.

That’s nearly two devices for every single person.

By disposing of them properly, we can:

🔸Reuse lithium, cobalt, and rare earth elements
🔸Reduce our reliance on imports
🔸Increase our resilience against global market disruptions

The EU’s Circular Economy Action Plan wants to make repairable design the norm, as a vital step toward reducing e-waste.

➡️ https://link.europa.eu/3MJKR4

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/topic/775fce5f-11e4-4858-b148-b3af3d8824dc/there-are-around-700-million-unused-phones-in-eu-homes.RSS for NodeFri, 15 May 2026 02:46:06 GMTSat, 02 May 2026 07:30:02 GMT60<![CDATA[Reply to There are around 700 million unused phones in EU homes. on Sat, 02 May 2026 08:42:36 GMT]]>@EUCommission Have you considered making that easier? In order to dispose of my ewaste I need to make an appointment (!) at the local recycling center, find someone to drive me there as they hate pedestrians, queue like some kind of indolent buffoon in spite of having an appointment.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/elricofmelnibone/statuses/116504091429745356https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/elricofmelnibone/statuses/116504091429745356Sat, 02 May 2026 08:42:36 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to There are around 700 million unused phones in EU homes. on Sat, 02 May 2026 08:41:40 GMT]]>@EUCommission stop trading with Israel.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/allancavanagh/statuses/116504087762861474https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/allancavanagh/statuses/116504087762861474Sat, 02 May 2026 08:41:40 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to There are around 700 million unused phones in EU homes. on Sat, 02 May 2026 08:34:42 GMT]]>@casdeiro @EUCommission i have never interacted to a degrowther. every time i see it, i raise my (ignorant) eyebrows. since i see progressive partially linked with growth. what for you personally is so attractive about he whole degrowth movement?

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/ap/users/116241163440402861/statuses/116504060369794694https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/ap/users/116241163440402861/statuses/116504060369794694Sat, 02 May 2026 08:34:42 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to There are around 700 million unused phones in EU homes. on Sat, 02 May 2026 08:29:53 GMT]]>@EUCommission
Jetzt müssen "nur noch" die -|e so gestaltet sein, dass man diese SELBST ersetzen, erweitern, bereinigen, kontrollieren kann und seine Daten EINFACH von einem Telefon auf ein andere umziehen kann!





]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://troet.cafe/users/CafeJunkie/statuses/116504041423451017https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://troet.cafe/users/CafeJunkie/statuses/116504041423451017Sat, 02 May 2026 08:29:53 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to There are around 700 million unused phones in EU homes. on Sat, 02 May 2026 08:28:09 GMT]]>@EUCommission Recently bought another couch secondhand. Reason i had to buy another couch was that the components *read springs* could not be bought seperately at the store i bought the original new couch. Yes, handing in old equipment is a good idea but also the right to repair or to not have to buy a completely new/different thing because of not being able to repair. *also* focus on that.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://urbanists.social/users/joyandsadness/statuses/116504034654357937https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://urbanists.social/users/joyandsadness/statuses/116504034654357937Sat, 02 May 2026 08:28:09 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to There are around 700 million unused phones in EU homes. on Sat, 02 May 2026 08:27:32 GMT]]>@EUCommission
Maybe we wouldn't need to keep them as hot spares if there was legislation that crucial everyday tasks could be done without a smartphone registered at either Apple or Google.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mstdn.social/users/schmidt_fu/statuses/116504032224751493https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mstdn.social/users/schmidt_fu/statuses/116504032224751493Sat, 02 May 2026 08:27:32 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to There are around 700 million unused phones in EU homes. on Sat, 02 May 2026 08:24:42 GMT]]>@EUCommission I kept all of my old ones. I don't think it's a lot for a 30ish years span 😏 I also have 2 landline phones (not in the picture) ☎️

Link Preview Image
]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/ranx/statuses/116504021070553943https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/ranx/statuses/116504021070553943Sat, 02 May 2026 08:24:42 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to There are around 700 million unused phones in EU homes. on Sat, 02 May 2026 08:17:21 GMT]]>@EUCommission devices which aren't broken can be flashed with or , and used as mobile phones or tiny servers

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://hachyderm.io/users/papiris/statuses/116503992183926000https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://hachyderm.io/users/papiris/statuses/116503992183926000Sat, 02 May 2026 08:17:21 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to There are around 700 million unused phones in EU homes. on Sat, 02 May 2026 08:07:21 GMT]]>@amackif @EUCommission that'd be perfect, but I don't see that happen

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/mihamarkic/statuses/116503952853141442https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/mihamarkic/statuses/116503952853141442Sat, 02 May 2026 08:07:21 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to There are around 700 million unused phones in EU homes. on Sat, 02 May 2026 08:04:58 GMT]]>@EUCommission ja man könnte die Rohstoffe daraus wieder zurück gewinnen da diese Wertvoll sind sollte man auch bereit sein einen Angemessenen Preis zu zahlen wie wäre es mit 25% des Preises was ein neues Smartphone kostet

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/XSterbeProzessX/statuses/116503943452070623https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/XSterbeProzessX/statuses/116503943452070623Sat, 02 May 2026 08:04:58 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to There are around 700 million unused phones in EU homes. on Sat, 02 May 2026 08:04:22 GMT]]>@EUCommission awesome! Now do home appliances. Refrigerators, washing machines, dryers, dishwashers and televisions need the same treatment.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/celeduc/statuses/116503941141683303https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/celeduc/statuses/116503941141683303Sat, 02 May 2026 08:04:22 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to There are around 700 million unused phones in EU homes. on Sat, 02 May 2026 07:58:24 GMT]]>@EUCommission
Also it's expensive to keep a second phone for emergency use in Ireland:
The phone companies expire call credit.
The phone companies expire the SIM and recycle the number if call credit isn't periodically added, even if not used up.

Comreg is "captured" by the phone companies and more focused on revenue for Government.
We need strong genuine Regulators in EU, maybe answerable to EU and voters, not national governments & commercial interests.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.ie/users/raymaccarthy/statuses/116503917630220940https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.ie/users/raymaccarthy/statuses/116503917630220940Sat, 02 May 2026 07:58:24 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to There are around 700 million unused phones in EU homes. on Sat, 02 May 2026 07:53:25 GMT]]>@EUCommission

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/ap/users/116501270761127967/statuses/116503898037619698https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/ap/users/116501270761127967/statuses/116503898037619698Sat, 02 May 2026 07:53:25 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to There are around 700 million unused phones in EU homes. on Sat, 02 May 2026 07:44:39 GMT]]>@EUCommission

Or you could legislate against developing software at a rate thats imposible to use in a sustained form the same device for more than 2-3 years before having to dispose it?

Edit: or at least having some kind of limitation or obligations on device companies to make products that endure at least X years...

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://neopaquita.es/users/th0maswaschosen/statuses/116503863621185758https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://neopaquita.es/users/th0maswaschosen/statuses/116503863621185758Sat, 02 May 2026 07:44:39 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to There are around 700 million unused phones in EU homes. on Sat, 02 May 2026 07:44:28 GMT]]>@casdeiro @EUCommission
And of course the extraction of those minerals is only partial.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mstdn.social/users/markhburton/statuses/116503862844922036https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mstdn.social/users/markhburton/statuses/116503862844922036Sat, 02 May 2026 07:44:28 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to There are around 700 million unused phones in EU homes. on Sat, 02 May 2026 07:42:00 GMT]]>@EUCommission There's nothing "circular" about it, if we keep on buying more and more of everything year after year. The first rule to be circular is to stop growing. Circles have a constant radius.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://15-15-15.social/users/casdeiro/statuses/116503853161329265https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://15-15-15.social/users/casdeiro/statuses/116503853161329265Sat, 02 May 2026 07:42:00 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to There are around 700 million unused phones in EU homes. on Sat, 02 May 2026 07:41:53 GMT]]>@EUCommission there's large scale lithium upcycling facilities within the EU which don't rely on temporary grants?

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://oldbytes.space/users/eobet/statuses/116503852740537614https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://oldbytes.space/users/eobet/statuses/116503852740537614Sat, 02 May 2026 07:41:53 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to There are around 700 million unused phones in EU homes. on Sat, 02 May 2026 07:40:18 GMT]]>@EUCommission
Some may be used without SIM as media players and/or cameras.

The walled gardens of Apple & Google need ending so that people can add and remove apps. Banks and other artificially make phones obsolete by Apps that only work on recent iOS or Android even when the phone OS is still supported.

We need a bigger picture than repair & recycling.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.ie/users/raymaccarthy/statuses/116503846493986358https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.ie/users/raymaccarthy/statuses/116503846493986358Sat, 02 May 2026 07:40:18 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to There are around 700 million unused phones in EU homes. on Sat, 02 May 2026 07:39:53 GMT]]>@EUCommission There's probably a reason why people keep them. If they have value, perhaps a bit of stimulation helps 🙂

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.nl/users/secupriv/statuses/116503844829715883https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.nl/users/secupriv/statuses/116503844829715883Sat, 02 May 2026 07:39:53 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to There are around 700 million unused phones in EU homes. on Sat, 02 May 2026 07:38:13 GMT]]>@EUCommission or, deal with the SW problem so those phones can be used for other things. force vendors to release technical documentation for outdated phones so we can build SW for it ourselves. and I don't mean only soc, but also actuators, cameras etc

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/amackif/statuses/116503838281847436https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/amackif/statuses/116503838281847436Sat, 02 May 2026 07:38:13 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to There are around 700 million unused phones in EU homes. on Sat, 02 May 2026 07:37:51 GMT]]>@EUCommission Sverige är top 3!

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.nu/users/johansaxe/statuses/116503836834308818https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.nu/users/johansaxe/statuses/116503836834308818Sat, 02 May 2026 07:37:51 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to There are around 700 million unused phones in EU homes. on Sat, 02 May 2026 07:37:07 GMT]]>@EUCommission Se non posso usare le app bancarie sul mio telefono principale, che è senza i servizi Google e Play Integrity, devo per forza avere 2 telefoni. Pensate prima a questo e poi al riciclo.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://livellosegreto.it/users/Ryoma123/statuses/116503833960500695https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://livellosegreto.it/users/Ryoma123/statuses/116503833960500695Sat, 02 May 2026 07:37:07 GMT