Use and Disposal of Mobile Phones Among University Students

This study aims to identify the replacement and disposal of mobile phones amongst Malaysian university students. Data were collected from a sample of 620 students of 3 universities (two in Melaka and one in Kuala Lumpur), by means of a self-administered questionnaire survey. The results show that about 22% of the students replace their mobile phones annually, while most students (43%) replace their phones in more than 3 years. The most common reason for mobile phones replacement is the physical broken (58%) followed by poor function (35%). About one third of the students stockpile their retired phones and majority (37%) of them claim that they want to have them as spare units. Besides, a substantial amount of them (28%) actually do not know what to do with the retired phones. This reflects the low awareness amongst students and the lack of formal waste management system in Malaysia. Moreover, the findings show the rate of replacements of even functioning phones is high and a significant high stockpile of the retired phones, which in turn increase the generation of e-waste eventually. This study also provides evidence that the level of students’ awareness towards mobile phones recycling is still low and waste management system in Malaysia is still inadequate. Thus, the time has come for the introduction of a recycling programme for these potentially harmful waste materials. The findings of this study also lead to implications for the theory-deficient of mobile phones recycling literature. In addition, several policy recommendations for policy makers to enhance mobile phones recycling response rate are also discussed.