The Dutch are sitting on some 27 million unused smartphones, according to European research by Fraunhofer Austria on behalf of refurbisher Refurbed.

Smartphones contain valuable precious metals but just 14% of people bring in their unused smartphones for recycling, according to CBS figures from November last year. Most people keep old phones as a spare or don’t want to have them repaired.

“People are afraid that the data on their phone will not be safe, and that is why they don’t hand them in,” Refurb spokeswoman Sharda Balgobind told broadcaster NOS. “That phone will just sit there gathering dust while it can still be used,” she said. Balgobind recommends owners reset their phones to the factory settings before handing them in.

All the old smartphones put together represent a value of €44.5 million in precious metals, such as gold, silver, platinum and palladium. They also contain tin and cobalt, Refurbed said.

For the whole of Europe – with a total of 642 million unused phones- the figure is over €1 billion. “That is like accessing an unexpected goldmine. With that gold, you could make lots of wedding rings,” Balgobind said.

Telephones older than three years should be taken to a recycling point, Balgobind said, while newer phones can be repaired and reused.

A European campaign to promote recycling and refurbishing is already underway, but according to refurbisher Swappie, the Dutch government should do more to raise awareness, focusing on the positive impact on the environment. Consumers who already own a refurbished phone could also play a role by sharing positive experiences.

Some 16% of phone users already have a second-hand phone and expectations are that by 2030, one in six phones in use will have been refurbished