According to a survey by the Pew Internet Project, 9 out of every 10 adults in the United States owns and uses a cell phone. Inevitably, that phone will either break, become obsolete, or a newer model will be released. The EPA estimates that Americans discard 125 million cell phones each year, which creates about 65,000 tons of e-waste in landfills.
As each phone can contain hazardous materials like lead, mercury, cadmium, and arsenic. In addition to being toxic materials, all can find their way into the soil and atmosphere if discarded into a landfill.
Luckily, cell phones also contain valuable materials like gold and copper, so there's a big market in recycling them. As a matter of fact, most old cell phones contain all the basic materials needed to produce a new phone.
Before you consider either recycling or re-using your old cell phone, make sure that any and all confidential data has been removed from the phone. All your old contacts, pictures, texts, etc should be erased. Also ,make sure you remove SIM card as well. Not sure how to delete the data from your cell phone? Try your local cell phone carrier first as most are happy to do it for you. If that's not an option for you, here's a great article about from PCMag that covers that topic.
How exactly are cell phones recycled?
Here's a great video about the cell phone recycling process from HowStuffWorks.com:
How Cell Phone Recycling Works
So what's the first step in recycling a phone after the data has been deleted?
As most people would be thinking about discarding the old one as they are getting a new one, start with your cell phone service provider. Most all of the major players in the cell phone industry have a recycling program set-up at every office:
Here are some other reputable sources for recycling or refurbishing cell phones:
ReCellular - A leader in recycled and refurbed cell phones, ReCellular will pay money for old cell phones that have a value.
Cell Phones for Soldiers - A non-profit organization that either refurbishes the cell phone or recycles it for money, which is then sent to our troops overseas.
GRC Recycling - Offers a recycling program that works with Operation Gratitude, which sends care packages to deployed troops.
Recycling for Charities - A program that takes in recyclable materials (including cell phones) and donates a portion of the proceeds to a charity of your choice.
These days, recycling a cell phone is quick and easy so please take the time to do it.
Thank you for telling us fresh and creative ideas about recycling the old phones.
ReplyDeleteLook Here
Thank you so much for sharing such information. I do hope everyone would consider doing this, but before doing so, make sure that the cell phone is completely non-functional. If you think that cell phone still has some capability, then you can simply sell it to make some money out of it.
ReplyDelete- Joanna Daniels