{"id":295389,"date":"2025-11-16T16:12:20","date_gmt":"2025-11-16T16:12:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/295389\/"},"modified":"2025-11-16T16:12:20","modified_gmt":"2025-11-16T16:12:20","slug":"aussie-company-reveals-900000-answer-to-phones-lost-on-planes-buses-and-trains","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/295389\/","title":{"rendered":"Aussie company reveals $900,000 answer to phones lost on planes, buses and trains"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you lost your phone, AirPods, or laptop while travelling, chances are you\u2019d try and find it. But every year, thousands of phones are abandoned on planes<\/a>, trains and buses, and they\u2019re never claimed.<\/p>\n

Rather than throw them away, after around 90 days, many of the devices are sold to a small Aussie business. Based in a warehouse in an outer Melbourne suburb, PhoneCycle then wipes them clean, strips them for parts or refurbishes them.<\/p>\n

It showcased an array of electronics it had refurbished at this year’s WasteExpo in Melbourne, allowing visitors to try their luck at winning a device. Without its service, the items could simply be thrown away.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

Over 700,000 devices have been processed by PhoneCycle. Source: Supplied<\/p>\n

Easy tip on how to get your lost phone back<\/p>\n

PhoneCycle\u2019s managing director, Owen Jones, told Yahoo News most businesses try and find their owners, but doing so is difficult.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost people have an activation lock \u2014 a pin code or fingerprint recognition \u2014 so it does make it hard in this day and age to find who it belongs to. You can\u2019t sift through their phonebook and give their contacts a buzz,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

When a customer comes looking for a lost device, it can be hard to determine which one they own. Source: Supplied<\/p>\n

On rare occasions, owners have tracked down their devices using the Find My Phone app, and while they eventually locate them, it’s a challenge because most are the same colour. \u201cA couple of times the police have even knocked on our door and said, You\u2019ve got a ‘stolen’ device here,\u201d Jones said.<\/p>\n

But, more often than not, once a device is handed to PhoneCycle, where it is scrubbed, if it is salvageable, it\u2019s sold on eBay, Temu, Kogan, Rebello, Redail, or Amazon with a 12-month warranty. \u201cWe\u2019d love everyone to get their device back and keep using it. My advice is just put a sticker on the back under the phone cover with another contact number,\u201d Jones said.<\/p>\n

The average device is sold for around $230. And it\u2019s often elderly people, school kids, or people struggling for money who will purchase them.<\/p>\n

Having processed over 700,000 devices, the business has donated $900,000, a small portion of its profits, to charity. Much of the money has been donated to environment<\/a> groups, including those protecting gorillas <\/a>from illegal mining of coltan \u2014 a mineral used in electronics.<\/p>\n

PhoneCycle also donates phones to a domestic violence charity, which hands them to survivors in emergencies.<\/p>\n

How long does it take to wipe a phone for resale?<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not just phones that have been dropped off at the company\u2019s Ringwood headquarters. They\u2019ve also accepted electronic drum kits, sleep apnea machines, and even metal detecting equipment.<\/p>\n

Once accepted, the electronics are examined to see if screens are cracked, the cameras are broken, if it needs a new battery, and what\u2019s salvageable.<\/p>\n

When laptops are discovered to contain data, they\u2019re powered on and erased using a diagnostic device, with the process taking 30 to 40 minutes. Android and Apple phones are much faster to process, with up to eight devices at a time wiped in just five to 10 minutes.<\/p>\n

Many of the phones can\u2019t be factory reset, and so they only have value in parts. But reusing rare minerals keeps them out of landfill and reduces harmful mining in places like Congo, where rainforest is being destroyed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe key thing is sustainability. It is all about the circular economy and reusing rather than recycling,\u201d Jones said.<\/p>\n

Love Australia’s weird and wonderful environment? \ud83d\udc0a\ud83e\udd98\ud83d\ude33 Get our new newsletter<\/a> showcasing the week\u2019s best stories.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If you lost your phone, AirPods, or laptop while travelling, chances are you\u2019d try and find it. But…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":295390,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[154233,165,154232,74],"class_list":{"0":"post-295389","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mobile","8":"tag-lost-phone","9":"tag-mobile","10":"tag-owen-jones","11":"tag-technology"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295389","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=295389"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295389\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/295390"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=295389"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=295389"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=295389"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}