Cairns Regional Council says the total was more than twice the 127.15 kilograms collected in the Moreton Bay council area. Rockhampton ranked next with 64.78 kilograms.
The city also led the state over a longer period, with 1,007.72 kilograms of phones and accessories recycled in Cairns across five years. The program recovers useful materials from unwanted electronics and keeps e-waste out of landfill.
MobileMuster estimates that more than 95 per cent of the materials in a mobile phone can be recovered and reused. Council says there is still significant scope for more recycling, with an estimated 22 million unused phones kept in Australian homes, including about 12 million that no longer work.
The free program accepts mobile phones of any brand, along with batteries, chargers and accessories. Broken and obsolete devices are accepted, and collected equipment is not refurbished or resold.
People should back up any information they want to retain and perform a factory reset before handing over a device. Council says any data that remains is destroyed during the recycling process.
During September, MobileMuster will donate $1 for every phone recycled to conservation projects supporting primates and their habitats through partner zoos. Free collection points are available at participating libraries, community centres and council facilities.
Source: Cairns Regional Council, published 7 September 2026.
Illustration disclosure: The featured image is an AI-generated editorial illustration and is not a photograph of the reported recycling result.
