Let’s all be Urban Miners!
Have you heard about urban mining?
It is about collecting all precious and rare materials from unwanted, used devices instead of mining them from the earth. We all can be urban miners by recycling our old cell phones. Almost 99% of phone materials can be recycled: for example gold, silver, copper, nickel and cobalt. Those metals could be used again as a raw material for new equipments. Also, cell phones can include environmentally hazardous raw materials, so they should not be disposed with mixed waste.
So bring you old phone(s) and battery chargers IT Service Desk! From IT Service Desk the phones will be delivered to Kuusakoski Oy as “information secure electric waste” to be dismantled and processed into raw materials. Stages in the recycling of electrical equipment include briefly the sorting of plastics and the recovery of metals.
Before you bring your device, hard reset the phone and remove all memory cards, SIM card etc. If the phone is broken and won’t turn on, you can bring it as such. If needed, you will get help from the Service Desk to erase all your information from your phone securely.
New ways to utilize old cell phones as they are and also to increase recycling rate will be thought over. Professor of Aalto University Ari Jokilaakso has suggested, for example, a gage system to old phones. Read more on why recycling old phones is important
Photo by Mikko Raskinen / Aalto University
The phone recycling locations
IT Service Desk Kandi (Undergraduate Centre)
Visiting address: Otakaari 1M, room U133a
Opening hours:
- Mon - Wed and Friday 9 - 11 and 12 – 15
- Thursday 9 - 10 and 12 - 15
IT Service Desk Väre (Väre building)
Visiting address: Otaniementie 14, room R101
Opening hours:
- Mon - Wed and Friday 9 - 11 and 12 – 15
- Thursday 9 - 10 and 12 – 15
Read more news
Save the Date: XII Unite! Dialogue at Aalto University
Aalto is pleased to host more than 300 invitees at the XII Unite! Dialogue from 6 to 9 October 2025. Registration is now open, with invitations issued to nominated attendees across the alliance.
Certificate in Advanced LCA Simulation
A new AaltoEE course (funded by EIT RawMaterials) developed together with Aalto University, Metso, Université de Bordeaux, Wrocław University of Science and Technology, VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland and TU Bergakademie Freiberg.
Erasmus+ Staff Training Week: Transnational Joint Courses and the Exchange Student’s Path from Home to Host
Twenty-five participants from across Europe gathered at Aalto University for this year’s Erasmus+ Staff Training Week, focused on transnational joint courses and student mobility.