Manufacturers could promote the recycling of cell phones.
Explanation:
Mining for the manufacture of cell phones and other electronic devices has caused at least six million refugees in the Democratic Republic of Congo in the last two decades. The high demand for minerals important for mobile technology causes humanitarian and environmental conflicts in the Democratic Republic of Congo. This is a serious issue that should be discussed among telephone companies to establish measures that will lower the human costs of depleting these ores.
One way to alleviate these problems would be through the recycling of disused electronic devices. Telephone companies could set up telephone collection points that are not in use and thus recover the ores needed to make new devices.
Minerals such as coltan, tungsten and cassiterite are widely used components in the manufacture of cell phones and electronic devices, many of which could be recovered and reused, but there is little awareness about cell phone recycling around the world.
