TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The Ministry of Environment hopes to collect more than 80,000 smartphones for recycling in October, reports said Tuesday (Sept. 26).

For the fifth annual edition of its phone recycling month, the ministry will mobilize 13,500 shops where the public can hand in their old phones, CNA reported. The campaign also includes prizes, including five sets of the new iPhone 15.

Previous editions only focused on handing in phones, but from this year on, recycling will also become a key factor. Heavy metals from the phones will be reused to help cut carbon emissions, the ministry said.

Businesses that fail to reach the recycling targets will be subject to fines ranging from NT$30,000 (US$931) to NT$150,000, according to the ministry's specified objectives. The campaign will also pay attention to public concerns about deleting private data from the returned phones.

In its first year in 2019, the smartphone recycling month collected 23,000 phones, but last year it reached 72,000, CNA reported. In 2022, environmental campaigns managed to collect 730,000 phones.