Mapping the social stock and spatiotemporal distribution of high-tech minerals from wasted mobile phones in China: 2001–2019

In the twenty-first century, mobile phones have become one of the most indispensable electronic products in the international community. The pollution of wasted mobile phones has become an urgent problem worldwide and needs special attention. In this paper, we applied the consumption and usage method to calculate the high-tech mineral elements in China from 2001 to 2019. To analyze the spatial distribution of per capita high-tech minerals in China, we proposed a model (3D GHM) through which a 3D grid of high-tech minerals in wasted mobile phones can be obtained in 1 km resolution. The results showed that the total amount of wasted mobile phones in China from 2001 to 2019 was 8.6 billion, with a growth rate of 1026.7% in 2019 compared with 2001. Moreover, the spatiotemporal distribution of wasted mobile phones is characterized by more in the east and less in the west. The total amount of cobalt, palladium, antimony, beryllium, neodymium, praseodymium, and platinum in wasted mobile phones from 2001 to 2019 reached 42,422.4 tons. Based on our results, we proposed a system for efficient collecting and recycling of wasted mobile phones in China.