Brits are throwing away 150 million worth of old mobile phones, sending more than five million handsets to landfill sites each year.
So claims research by moneysupermarket.com, as it prepares to launch its second annual National Recycle Your Phone Week, which kicks off on Monday.
UK mobile phone users have, on average, two devices just lying around gathering dust. And the volume of handsets heading to landfill is set to grow as 60 per cent of us don't plan to start recycling anytime soon, according to moneysupermarket.com's research.
"People are constantly craving the latest gadget. This need to have the best and newest mobile phone on the market has resulted in many people accumulating spare handsets," said James Parker, manager of mobiles at moneysupermarket.com, in a statement.
"If people recycle these surplus handsets, not only will they be doing their bit for the environment but they can also make a few pounds. Those people that have thrown away the 5.25 million phones have effectively thrown away 150 million that would have been paid out if the phones had been recycled."
The week-long campaign to educate users and encourage more of them to recycle is co-sponsored by love2recycle.com and is being actively promoted on Twitter, where users could be in with a chance of winning a handset.
Parker added: "We hope this year's awareness week will continue to encourage people to recycle old phones for the benefit of the environment as well as gaining a bit of extra cash."
