{"id":4198,"date":"2026-01-02T10:48:47","date_gmt":"2026-01-02T09:48:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rdcenvironment.be\/uncategorized\/devenir-anciens-appareils-electroniques-belgique\/"},"modified":"2026-01-02T10:54:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-02T09:54:10","slug":"what-happens-to-old-electronic-devices","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rdcenvironment.be\/en\/news\/what-happens-to-old-electronic-devices\/","title":{"rendered":"What really happens to our old laptops, tablets and phones?\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"ap\">\n  <div class=\"ap__container\">\n    <p>We recently supported <strong>Recupel<\/strong> map how laptops, mobile phones and tablets circulate in Belgium: from first use to reuse, recycling or long-term storage.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>A few things stood out<\/strong><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>A large share of devices, especially mobile phones, end up <strong>stored for years<\/strong> instead of being reused. Most of us have at least one forgotten phone in a drawer and they could all serve a second life.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Data security, limited awareness of collection channels and (perceived) low financial incentives remain among the top barriers to collection.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>Traceability across several collection routes is still <strong>fragmented<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>Many devices are exported for reuse.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><strong>Why it matters<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Extending the life of digital devices is one of the simplest ways to cut their environmental footprint especially if they re-enter the system at the right time. E-waste is one of the fastest-growing waste streams, but these devices contain valuable materials. By improving reuse and collection, we can reduce waste and save critical resources.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>RDC Environment\u2019s recommendations<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>To improve collection and reuse rates, we propose actions such as:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>improving <strong>traceability<\/strong> across all collection channels,<\/li>\n<li>supporting faster collection of devices stored in households,<\/li>\n<li>strengthening <strong>consumer confidence<\/strong> in reuse (data wiping, transparency),<\/li>\n<li>aligning stakeholders to make collection <strong>simpler, clearer and more consistent<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>RDC Environment stands ready to help your organization unlock the full potential of circular digital device management.<\/p>\n\n  <\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Reuse, recycling or storage: discover what really happens to old phones, tablets and laptops in Belgium. Read more! <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":4196,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"class_list":["post-4198","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>What Happens to Our Old Phones and Laptops? - RDC Environment<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Reuse, recycling or storage: discover what really happens to old phones, tablets and laptops in Belgium. Read more!\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/rdcenvironment.be\/en\/news\/what-happens-to-old-electronic-devices\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What Happens to Our Old Phones and Laptops? - RDC Environment\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Reuse, recycling or storage: discover what really happens to old phones, tablets and laptops in Belgium. Read more!\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/rdcenvironment.be\/en\/news\/what-happens-to-old-electronic-devices\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"RDC Environment\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-01-02T09:48:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-01-02T09:54:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/rdcenvironment.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/featured-image-recupel-1.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Wouter Storme\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Wouter Storme\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/rdcenvironment.be\\\/en\\\/news\\\/what-happens-to-old-electronic-devices\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/rdcenvironment.be\\\/en\\\/news\\\/what-happens-to-old-electronic-devices\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Wouter Storme\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/rdcenvironment.be\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/a9561e8fcd0f3c7bffd6ff11ff54861f\"},\"headline\":\"What really happens to our old laptops, tablets and phones?\u00a0\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-01-02T09:48:47+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-01-02T09:54:10+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/rdcenvironment.be\\\/en\\\/news\\\/what-happens-to-old-electronic-devices\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":10,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/rdcenvironment.be\\\/en\\\/news\\\/what-happens-to-old-electronic-devices\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/rdcenvironment.be\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/featured-image-recupel-1.png\",\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/rdcenvironment.be\\\/en\\\/news\\\/what-happens-to-old-electronic-devices\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/rdcenvironment.be\\\/en\\\/news\\\/what-happens-to-old-electronic-devices\\\/\",\"name\":\"What Happens to Our Old Phones and Laptops? - RDC Environment\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/rdcenvironment.be\\\/en\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/rdcenvironment.be\\\/en\\\/news\\\/what-happens-to-old-electronic-devices\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/rdcenvironment.be\\\/en\\\/news\\\/what-happens-to-old-electronic-devices\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/rdcenvironment.be\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/featured-image-recupel-1.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-01-02T09:48:47+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-01-02T09:54:10+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/rdcenvironment.be\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/a9561e8fcd0f3c7bffd6ff11ff54861f\"},\"description\":\"Reuse, recycling or storage: discover what really happens to old phones, tablets and laptops in Belgium. Read more!\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/rdcenvironment.be\\\/en\\\/news\\\/what-happens-to-old-electronic-devices\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/rdcenvironment.be\\\/en\\\/news\\\/what-happens-to-old-electronic-devices\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/rdcenvironment.be\\\/en\\\/news\\\/what-happens-to-old-electronic-devices\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/rdcenvironment.be\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/featured-image-recupel-1.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/rdcenvironment.be\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/featured-image-recupel-1.png\",\"width\":1920,\"height\":1080,\"caption\":\"recupel\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/rdcenvironment.be\\\/en\\\/news\\\/what-happens-to-old-electronic-devices\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/rdcenvironment.be\\\/en\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"What really happens to our old laptops, tablets and phones?\u00a0\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/rdcenvironment.be\\\/en\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/rdcenvironment.be\\\/en\\\/\",\"name\":\"RDC Environment\",\"description\":\"RDC Environment\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"http:\\\/\\\/rdcenvironment.be\\\/en\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/rdcenvironment.be\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/a9561e8fcd0f3c7bffd6ff11ff54861f\",\"name\":\"Wouter Storme\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/c0a5c62b71c59328cc2fb1de4a13296e9e3d13419523705387d5def7d897d2b7?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/c0a5c62b71c59328cc2fb1de4a13296e9e3d13419523705387d5def7d897d2b7?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/c0a5c62b71c59328cc2fb1de4a13296e9e3d13419523705387d5def7d897d2b7?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Wouter Storme\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/rdcenvironment.be\\\/en\\\/author\\\/stormewoutergmail-com\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"What Happens to Our Old Phones and Laptops? - RDC Environment","description":"Reuse, recycling or storage: discover what really happens to old phones, tablets and laptops in Belgium. Read more!","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/rdcenvironment.be\/en\/news\/what-happens-to-old-electronic-devices\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"What Happens to Our Old Phones and Laptops? - RDC Environment","og_description":"Reuse, recycling or storage: discover what really happens to old phones, tablets and laptops in Belgium. Read more!","og_url":"https:\/\/rdcenvironment.be\/en\/news\/what-happens-to-old-electronic-devices\/","og_site_name":"RDC Environment","article_published_time":"2026-01-02T09:48:47+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-01-02T09:54:10+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1920,"height":1080,"url":"https:\/\/rdcenvironment.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/featured-image-recupel-1.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Wouter Storme","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Wouter Storme","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/rdcenvironment.be\/en\/news\/what-happens-to-old-electronic-devices\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/rdcenvironment.be\/en\/news\/what-happens-to-old-electronic-devices\/"},"author":{"name":"Wouter Storme","@id":"http:\/\/rdcenvironment.be\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/a9561e8fcd0f3c7bffd6ff11ff54861f"},"headline":"What really happens to our old laptops, tablets and phones?\u00a0","datePublished":"2026-01-02T09:48:47+00:00","dateModified":"2026-01-02T09:54:10+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/rdcenvironment.be\/en\/news\/what-happens-to-old-electronic-devices\/"},"wordCount":10,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/rdcenvironment.be\/en\/news\/what-happens-to-old-electronic-devices\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/rdcenvironment.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/featured-image-recupel-1.png","articleSection":["News"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/rdcenvironment.be\/en\/news\/what-happens-to-old-electronic-devices\/","url":"https:\/\/rdcenvironment.be\/en\/news\/what-happens-to-old-electronic-devices\/","name":"What Happens to Our Old Phones and Laptops? - RDC Environment","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/rdcenvironment.be\/en\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/rdcenvironment.be\/en\/news\/what-happens-to-old-electronic-devices\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/rdcenvironment.be\/en\/news\/what-happens-to-old-electronic-devices\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/rdcenvironment.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/featured-image-recupel-1.png","datePublished":"2026-01-02T09:48:47+00:00","dateModified":"2026-01-02T09:54:10+00:00","author":{"@id":"http:\/\/rdcenvironment.be\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/a9561e8fcd0f3c7bffd6ff11ff54861f"},"description":"Reuse, recycling or storage: discover what really happens to old phones, tablets and laptops in Belgium. Read more!","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/rdcenvironment.be\/en\/news\/what-happens-to-old-electronic-devices\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/rdcenvironment.be\/en\/news\/what-happens-to-old-electronic-devices\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/rdcenvironment.be\/en\/news\/what-happens-to-old-electronic-devices\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/rdcenvironment.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/featured-image-recupel-1.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/rdcenvironment.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/featured-image-recupel-1.png","width":1920,"height":1080,"caption":"recupel"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/rdcenvironment.be\/en\/news\/what-happens-to-old-electronic-devices\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/rdcenvironment.be\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"What really happens to our old laptops, tablets and phones?\u00a0"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"http:\/\/rdcenvironment.be\/en\/#website","url":"http:\/\/rdcenvironment.be\/en\/","name":"RDC Environment","description":"RDC Environment","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"http:\/\/rdcenvironment.be\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"http:\/\/rdcenvironment.be\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/a9561e8fcd0f3c7bffd6ff11ff54861f","name":"Wouter Storme","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c0a5c62b71c59328cc2fb1de4a13296e9e3d13419523705387d5def7d897d2b7?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c0a5c62b71c59328cc2fb1de4a13296e9e3d13419523705387d5def7d897d2b7?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c0a5c62b71c59328cc2fb1de4a13296e9e3d13419523705387d5def7d897d2b7?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Wouter Storme"},"url":"https:\/\/rdcenvironment.be\/en\/author\/stormewoutergmail-com\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rdcenvironment.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4198","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rdcenvironment.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rdcenvironment.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rdcenvironment.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rdcenvironment.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4198"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/rdcenvironment.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4198\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4202,"href":"https:\/\/rdcenvironment.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4198\/revisions\/4202"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rdcenvironment.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4196"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rdcenvironment.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4198"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rdcenvironment.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4198"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}