An anonymous reader quotes a report from Phys.Org: More than five billion of the estimated 16 billion mobile phones possessed worldwide will likely be discarded or stashed away in 2022, experts said Thursday, calling for more recycling of the often hazardous materials they contain. Stacked flat on top of each other, that many disused phones would rise 50,000 kilometers (30,000 miles), more than a hundred times higher than the International Space Station, the WEEE research consortium found. Despite containing valuable gold, copper, silver, palladium and other recyclable components, almost all these unwanted devices will be hoarded, dumped or incinerated, causing significant health and environmental harm.

"Smartphones are one of the electronic products of highest concern for us," said Pascal Leroy, Director General of the WEEE Forum, a not-for-profit association representing forty-six producer responsibility organizations. "If we don't recycle the rare materials they contain, we'll have to mine them in countries like China or Congo," Leroy told AFP. Many of the five billion phones withdrawn from circulation will be hoarded rather than dumped in the trash, according to a survey in six European countries from June to September 2022. This happens when households and businesses forget cell phones in drawers, closets, cupboards or garages rather than bringing them in for repair or recycling. Up to five kilos (8 pounds) of e-devices per person are currently hoarded in the average European family, the report found.

According to the new findings, 46 percent of the 8,775 households surveyed considered potential future use as the main reason for hoarding small electrical and electronic equipment. Another 15 percent stockpile their gadgets with the intention to sell them or giving them away, while 13 percent keep them due to "sentimental value." "People tend not to realize that all these seemingly insignificant items have a lot of value, and together at a global level represent massive volumes," said Pascal Leroy. "But e-waste will never be collected voluntarily because of the high cost. That is why legislation is essential."

Whether its Pokemon cards, swords, or gift cards, the USPS Mail Recovery Center can accommodate all your shopping needs. From a report: Every year, the United States Postal Service auctions millions of dollars worth of undeliverable mail, an amount that could likely be far more if the USPS had any idea what it was selling, according to postal service documents. In 2020, as part of our special project on the USPS, Motherboard filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the USPS for a list of items auctioned by the Mail Recovery Center in Atlanta, Georgia, the USPS's "lost and found," a facility where some 67 million pieces of undeliverable mail annually are sent to. If the items are deemed to have a value of greater than $25, sentimental value, or otherwise possess "some material value," the items are stored in case the USPS receives an inquiry from the person who was supposed to get it.

After a period ranging from 30 days to "indefinitely," the USPS either recycles, destroys, or auctions the item. But the USPS doesn't auction the items individually. It contracts with GovDeals, a government surplus auction website, to sell them off in lots. Currently, the Atlanta Surplus Center has 645 lots on auction, with items ranging from gift cards to cell phones to laptops. But mostly the lots contain "general merchandise." Ironically, the lots must be picked up at the Atlanta facility, as the mail will not mail the lost mail to the winner of an auction. In response to Motherboard's request, the USPS said it doesn't keep much of any information about the auctions at all. "As information, the Postal Service does not have a record of the actual number of items auctioned, the sale prices of those items, nor the sale prices of the individual lots," the USPS said. The only information it included in the response was an annual breakdown of 2015 through 2019 of the number of lots auctioned and the total revenue from those auctions.

Charles Fishman, senior writer for Fast Company magazine has recently published a book entitled The Man Who Said No To Wal-mart. It's an excellent book (Yes, I've read it) that talks about the intersection of making good stuff, the commodization of products, and the changing world that we work in; not exactly high tech, but tech nonetheless.