Every year millions upon millions of mobile phones are created, sold, distributed, used and thrown away. An endless cycle of mobile technology being created and thrown away in wasteful harmony. The mobile phone industry produce new models and pump out handsets at an alarmingly fast rate, whilst the public often strive to be the owner of a brand new handset, or the latest model, despite it being out of date within a matter of months.
Modern phones are designed with planned obsolescence, meaning they have a limited life. The saying ‘built to last’ isn’t one that applies so confidently to the mobile phone market anymore. They are designed to fail, lose their value, or are incompatible with future upgrades to operating software or appearance. Sadly, this means that around 90% of all discarded mobile phones end up in landfill.
To put the 90% into perspective, this essentially means that the phone you threw away last Christmas, after getting a brand new model, is sitting on a landfill along with 150,000,000 other phones thrown away in the same year. Worse still, the 150 million figure is only taking into account Europe and the USA. when you add in other faster growing and technologically advancing populations such as Brazil, Russia, India China and more, it is easy to see why mobile phone was is such a big problem.
How to dispose of your phones
The average person disposes of their phones once every two years – that’s a lot of phones being thrown in the waste. One thing to remember, when you thing your time with your phone has come to an end, is that the dustbin isn’t the only answer. There are many ways you can get rid of your old mobile phone:
Charities
A lot of charities accept old mobile phone, working or broken. They often donate them to recycling companies in return for charitable profit, or even use them as second hand phones and toys to donate to those in need. Running a quick search for charities who accept mobile phone donations will return hundreds who are all better options than simply throwing your phone in the bin
Get online
Hopping online to get rid of your old phones will prove fruitful. Certain sites like Freecycle and Freegle will allow you to donate your mobile phones and other items for free, whilst a trader sites like Gumtree and eBay will allow you to get a little back for your bundle of electronics.
Pass them on
A lot of the time, getting rid of your phone is much easier than having to sell it, or finding somewhere to donate it to. Simply pass it on to another member of your family, or to a friend. Whether it will be used a toy for a young nephew or as a basic phone for your daughter or mother – if it is getting used, and isn’t going to landfill, it is worthwhile.
Get on the high street
There are a number of places you can go to on the high street to trade-in, recycle or pawn off your old phone. When buying a new phone in a high street shop, remember to ask how you can recycle your old handset. Most provide postal envelopes you can use. For example, Geek Squad used to allow customers to drop off their old phones into over 700 Carphone Warehouse stores across the country.
Trade in shops like Cash Converters or CeX will allow you to get money for you old phone. I also allows someone else, who doesn’t want a high end model, to buy your old one.
Recycle them
You can also, of course, recycle your old mobile phones. Simply head down to a household waste and recycling centre and pop it into a container marked something along the lines of “Small electricals”
How are phones recycled?
Phones are made up of many little parts, all different shapes, sizes and materials. They cannot be recycled in the same way that your plastic bottles or cardboard boxes can. Most mobile phone recycling schemes simply recover and re-use specific parts from the phone.
Various metals (precious and semiprecious) will be salvaged as well as the plastic components including casing and buttons. There’s also a technical side to it – valuable components such as flash memory devices or other running parts will be recovered and downgraded. Certain parts simply get taken out and re-used, like aerials, battery connectors, keyboards, LCD screens, lenses, microphones, sims card assemblies and speakers.
Mobile phone and electronic waste is a growing problem in the UK, and around the world – but that doesn’t mean it has to be. Looking after your phone, being wary of throwing it straight in the bin, recycling it or donating it will all help to cut down on the millions and millions of tonnes of E-waste getting sent straight to landfill every year.
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