Bali meet to discuss disposal of billions of old cell phones

23 June 2008

Nusa Dua, Indonesia: The ubiquitous cell phone has now assumed monster proportions. From being a status symbol - clutched by a few - to a piece of hardware that is now carried by all ages and sections of society the cell phone has proliferated in such vast numbers that the United Nations  has convened a five day meeting to discuss the disposal of massive numbers of unwanted mobile phones.

It is estimated that there are now at least three billion of these pieces in use today.

The five-day meeting, which is the ninth meeting of the ''Conference of the Parties (COP9) to the Basel Convention on the control of trans-boundary movements of hazardous wastes and their disposal'' began today in Bali, Indonesia, organisers said.

The meeting on the Basel Convention will discuss the fate of more than three billion of the gadgets in use today. In attendance will be more than 1,000 delegates from 170 countries. Delegates to the conference will discuss new guidelines for disposing of the phones, which have now grown into a major waste challenge, in a matter of years.

The conference would "consider adopting new sets of guidelines for the environmentally sound management of used and end-of-life mobile phones," a statement from the organisers said.

"The use of mobile phones has grown exponentially from the first few users in the 1970s to ... more than three billion in April, 2008. Sooner or later these phones will be discarded, whole or in parts."