E-waste turned into art for National Recycling Week

As part of Planet Ark’s National Recycling Week, held from 10-16 November, internationally acclaimed artist Chris Jordan has constructed Australia’s largest e-waste artwork in the heart of Sydney’s CBD.

Commissioned by mobile phone recycling program MobileMuster and made up of nearly 6000 unused mobile phones, the artwork depicts an analog phone featuring the number 23 on its screen. The number represents the 23 million old mobiles that are being hoarded away in homes and business around Australia instead of being recycled.

“All of these old mobiles are effectively a vast above-ground mine of non-renewable resources going to waste, considering most of the materials in them can be recovered and made into something new,” said MobileMuster Recycling Manager Rose Read. If all 23 million mobiles were recycled, this would lessen the need to mine over 140,000 tonnes of precious metal ore, recover over 397 tonnes of plastic and have the equivalent environmental benefit of planting over 120,000 trees.

Australia’s old mobile phones are just part of the problem. There is now an estimated 20-50 million tonnes of e-waste being produced globally each year, but despite 95-98% of e-waste material being suitable for recycling, less than 10% of this is currently being recovered.

The artwork was constructed with the help of local high-school students from 8.30 am on 12 November. It will be on display in the Customs House forecourt until 6 pm on 14 November.