70% more mobile phones and twice as many batteries: students collect record amount of waste in 5 weeks

6/21/23

214 schools took part in the seasonal national waste sorting competition

The seasonal national waste sorting competition, launched as part of Sustainability Week, has been joined by 214 schools. This year, students collected nearly 70% more mobile phones and almost double the amount of batteries than last year. One student alone collected 700 mobile phones, while another record holder collected more than a ton of batteries. The main sponsors of the competition were the Ministry of Interior, the Kék Bolygó Foundation and Yettel Hungary.

The GyűjtsVelem national waste sorting program running for 12 years has been growing steadily with 1,270 participating schools and more than 68,000 registered users. The 5-week seasonal waste sorting competition announced as part of Sustainability Week has also also been growing organically. The number of schools joining the competition increased from last year’s 165 to 214 this year. The participating students collected a record amount of waste in the history of the competition, demonstrating the importance of waste sorting and recycling for primary school children. Responsible recycling is also important as e-waste is one of the fastest growing waste streams in the European Union, with less than 40% of waste^[1] being recycled. As well as reducing pollution, collecting waste is a more efficient way of recovering the valuable materials in handsets.

6,669 mobile phones and 38.5 tons of batteries

Once again this year, students competed in two categories: used mobile phones and used batteries. They collected nearly 70% more mobile phones and almost double the amount of batteries than last year. A total of 6,669 mobile phones and 38.5 tons of batteries were collected from 214 schools during the five-week competition.

This year’s record holder is a primary school student from Mezőhegyes, who collected 700 mobile phones on their own. The second largest number of mobile phones (323) was collected by a student from Tiszadada, and the third largest number (241) by a student from District 21 of Budapest. The most batteries, 1.5 tons (1,542 kilograms), were collected by a student from Farmos in Pest county, followed by a student from Budapest, District 21 (1,105 kilograms) and another one from Göd (1,082 kilograms).

The ten primary school students who collected the most mobile phones and the ten students collecting the most used batteries won valuable vouchers, while the schools that collected the most used batteries and those collecting the largest number of used mobile phones in each county received a HUF 30,000 grant each.

The main sponsors of the seasonal sustainability competition were the Ministry of Interior, the Kék Bolygó Foundation and Yettel Hungary. To view the final toplist please visit https://www.pontvelem.hu/szelektiv-hulladekgyujtes/gyujtoverseny.
^[1]Source: Electronic waste in the EU