Do you have an old phone at home? billions pile up in e-waste

It turns out 5.3 billion phones will be thrown away this year alone

These devices, which aren’t recycled are part of a growing e-waste problem

A new study has found that people are keeping their old phones, rather than recycling them.

Of course, the minerals that are in our handheld devices need to be mined, which is causing concern among environmental activists.

There are nearly 16 billion mobile phones worldwide.

While only 17 per cent of the planet’s e-waste is recycled, the U-N wants that figure to climb to 30 per cent by next year.