For a good selfie. Enhancing mobile phone recycling through simulated exposure to cobalt mining

Abstract

Mobile phones and other electronic equipment need elements like cobalt that are obtained with enormous tolls of human rights and environmental health. In the Democratic Republic of Congo cobalt mining involves child labour. The principles of R-framework like refusing to buy and recycling post-first-life mobiles help to improve the sustainability of this and other minerals through waste management; however, current rates of mobile phone recycling are very low. Here we have designed an intervention for educational settings. We exposed students of different ages (271 of secondary and 266 of higher education) to the situation of child miners through an intervention called For a Good Selfie. Participants put themselves in the place of children working in cobalt mines. Significant increase of the intention of refusing-to-buy (between 11.6% and 45.5%) and recycling behaviour were found in students of different ages and disciplines after playing For a Good Selfie. Role-play was significantly more efficient than non-role play interventions; the first one involves a higher psychological proximity with child miners. Higher rates of recycling were found in engineering (57.7%) than in social sciences (9.6%) students. Interventions based on role-playing could be recommended for improving sustainable behaviours in the sector of mobile phones.