It’s easy to recycle a mobile phone and well worth doing so. Did you know, for example, that in the UK, there are actually more mobile phones than there are people?
Crazy, isn’t it! But this is an even more shocking fact – 150 million handsets are thrown away and just end up in landfill!
There’s no need for this, however, as it’s possible to recycle your mobile phone handsets and get some cash at the same time. Fortunately, the mobile phone recycling process is very easy, especially if you do it online via a reputable service.
How can mobile phones be recycled?
This depends on the condition that they are in. Many people recycle handsets which are still in good working order but which simply aren’t the latest model. In this instance, the recycling company will wipe off the data using erasing technology and send them to places such as Africa, China, India and Pakistan. In these locations, mobile communications are vastly important, as landline technology is often geographically impossible. Mobile phones are in great demand and it’s good to know that your old handset will be used by someone who really needs it.
For handsets which are damaged, the parts can be recycled. Things like the flash memory can be used in new products and plastic handsets and casings can be recycled and re-used across an array of consumer and industrial products. In addition, the small precious metal elements such as gold and silver are greatly valued for a vast number of manufacturing processes and can be melted down, refined and re-used. Interestingly, many mobile phone parts are recycled into road cones!
How the recycling process works at the plant
The phones will come into the recycling plant and be sorted into bins. Copper wiring is extracted immediately from chargers and reusable phones are tested, wiped of data and re-configured for onward use. Once sorted, non-working phones will be stripped of their parts and processers and memory and LCD screens will be used for new phone manufacturing. Phones which can be refurbished will be sold on or given to charities. Those which are unusable will go to a smelting centre which uses heat furnaces to extract precious metals. The plastics will melt down to become a liquid, which agitate is mixed into, allowing extraction from the hot liquid for onward transport to industrial manufacturing plants. The whole process is highly industrialised and technology-led and it’s incredible just how much usable material can be extracted from your old handset and used to make new things!
How do I recycle my phone?
The process is very easy indeed. You simply go onto an online recycling site and tell it which phone you have to sell. It will tell you immediately what the value is of your old handset; you’ll often be pleasantly surprised!
Jane Graves writes regularly about technology and mobile consumer products and has been interested in tech recycling for the past five years. A keen proponent of mobile recycling, she believes that the mobile phone recycling process is worthwhile for both the environment and consumers alike.
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