Australia is currently letting a wealth of resources go to waste, argues an expert from Swinburne University, who believes the country is missing out on an incredible opportunity to recover and repurpose precious resources from old or broken mobile phones. Professor Alan Duffy, an astrophysicist from Swinburne University, said that while the phones themselves may not work, many metal components, including gold, silver, copper, and palladium, can be re-used after being extracted. “They represent a valuable stockpile of resources that can be recovered and re-used,” Duffy said in a statement on March 1. Duffy is the ambassador of the non-profit organisation Mobile Muster, which has formed a partnership with the primary mobile phone providers Telstra, Optus, and Vodafone to focus on encouraging Australians to recycle their mobile phones. “But when they are no longer of use, we throw these devices into a desk draw or cupboard. Literally letting all the materials …