Image Credit: Yutaka Tsutano, US. CC by 2.0.

To most people mobile devices like smartphones are so much more than simple everyday objects. In personal messages, music, notes and calendars they basically contain our entire lives.

Despite the deep relationship to our smartphone, many do not hesitate to replace it with the newer model as soon as they get the chance. A report from 2016 suggests that in the UK smartphones are replaced by a newer version every two years.

Many people are not ware what the costs of this tech consumerism are. Smartphones, laptops and other consumer electronics contain up to 92 different elements and the origin of some is very problematic.

One example is the metal cobalt which is used in the lithium-ion batteries powering our devices. Cobalt normally comes from mines in African countries like the Democratic Republic of  Congo (DRC). Cobalt miners in these…