Scientists at the University of Lorraine hope to collect 10,000 unwanted mobiles to find a way to recycle the precious metals in their circuit boards.
A project launched by the university earlier this year aims to extract and recycle metals like gold, silver, copper and palladium that are hidden in our broken or unused phones.
The THYMO program, spearheaded by researcher Eric Meux, encourages residents of the Grand Est region to contribute by dropping off their old devices at a local collection point.