5.3 billion mobile phones will become electronic waste this year, which is a third of the 16 billion mobile phones possessed worldwide. If stacked on top of each other, the discarded phones would reach 50,000 km into the sky. Only a fifth of the world’s electronic waste is ever recycled, and mobiles are not even the most commonly hoarded e-waste. We are more likely to keep consumer electronics such as headphones or household items like clocks and irons. Here’s more on this e-waste hazard.