Don't let mobile phones and other electronic waste go to landfill or gather dust in a drawer – help recover valuable resources by recycling! Simply drop them off at a participating location.
Mobile phones, mobile batteries and e-waste cannot be recycled in your household recycling bin. Fortunately, these products can be recycled for free through the MobileMuster program.
What is MobileMuster?
MobileMuster is the mobile telecommunications industry's product stewardship program, and it is managed by the Australian Mobile Telecommunications Association (AMTA) on behalf of its members. It is a voluntary, not-for-profit, and carbon neutral scheme that is accredited by the federal government.
The program is funded by major handset manufacturers and network carriers (Alcatel, Apple, HMD Global, HTC, Huawei, Google, Motorola, Oppo, Samsung, Vigo Mobile Australia, ZTE, Optus, Telstra, TPG Telecom, Vantiva (Technicolor), TP-Link, Force Technology) to provide a free and secure mobile phone recycling program for Australians. MobileMuster also commenced collection and recycling of an expanded range of mobile telecommunications electronic waste on 1 July 2022.
MobileMuster supports the waste hierarchy. In addition to creating efficient pathways to recycle mobile phones, accessories, and other e-waste, the program provides significant educational resources as well as promotes avenues to guide efforts in reuse and repair.
What Mobilemuster accepts for Recycling
- All brands of mobile phones, their chargers and accessories
From 1 July 2022 the following products are accepted at your local Telstra, Optus or Vodafone stores.
- Modems, landline phones and TV streaming devices
- Smart speakers and smart digital hubs (only Apple, Amazon, Google products)
- Smartwatches, smart pens, tracking tags and VR headsets (only Apple, Amazon, Fitbit, Google products)
Where do I drop off my Mobilemuster e-waste?
MobileMuster partners with numerous councils, workplaces, as well as retail and repair stores throughout the country to provide the public with as many drop-off points as possible.
You can recycle your mobile phones and accessories at any one of the 3,000+ MobileMuster public drop-off points, including your local Optus, Telstra, Vodafone, and Officeworks stores. Simply ask the staff instore for help.
To find your closest drop-off point, enter your postcode or suburb in the search bar for phones. You can also pick up a free recycling satchel from Australia Post or order one from MobileMuster. If you'd like to use your own packaging, you can order a prepaid return label here and drop your package off at your local Australia Post store or post box.
Getting your phone ready
Are you ready to recycle your old mobile phone? Before you recycle, sell, or give away your mobile phone, you should remove your personal information. Watch MobileMuster’s how-to to videos on managing data on your Android or iOS device.
However, any data left on the phone is destroyed during the recycling process.
Why should I recycle my phone and other e-waste?
Old or broken mobiles and e-waste should never be put in the rubbish bin as they contain small amounts of potentially hazardous materials that may harm the environment.
When you recycle, you reduce the need to extract and use raw materials, saving our natural resources in the process. Recycling also improves air quality by reducing the demand for power used in mining, refining, processing, and shipping of raw materials. Additionally, recycling prevents pollution and minimises hazardous waste going to landfill. Recycling 50,000 mobiles saves 99 tonnes of mineral resources and 19 tonnes of CO2 emissions. To find out how much impact you're making from recycling your phone visit the MobileMuster Calculator
What happens to my phone when I recycle it?
Mobile phones, accessories, and other accepted e-waste are transported to one of two recycling facilities in Sydney and Melbourne. Products are dismantled manually with components separated into streams – circuit boards, metal, glass, plastics, and batteries.
Some plastics and metals are processed in Australia. Circuit boards, batteries, and other plastics are processed by MobileMuster’s recycling partner at their facility in Singapore. These materials are recovered and used in the manufacture of a range of products, including mobile phones, glass bottles, recycled plastic park benches, other electronics, mobile phone batteries, and stainless-steel products.
MobileMuster's recycling partner is a global leader in e-waste recycling and its process can recover more than 95% of the materials in a mobile phone. They can even recycle your plastic cases and accessories, and the paper and cardboard from your mobile phone packaging.
Nothing the program collects is reused or resold. MobileMuster's priority is to recover the majority of the materials to use in the manufacture of new products.
