Why Should You Recycle Mobile Phones

Recycling Mobile Phones

Q: Why should you recycle mobile phones?

A: Mobile phones are electronic pieces of equipment and like such electrical equipment contain materials and chemicals that are hazardous to the environment if not disposed of properly. Materials and chemicals such as Cadmium, Lead, Coltan, Beryllium and Brominated flame retardants used in batteries of mobile phones. These materials do not biodegrade and safely decompose in the ground and can contaminate the earths water supply. Over 80 billion Olympic sized swimming pools worth of water could be polluted by discarded mobile phone batteries every year. And up to 600 thousand litres of water can be polluted by just one single cadmium mobile phone battery. With people in the UK alone buying more than 1.3 million new mobiles a year that's 820 Billion litres of water that could be polluted if old mobile phones are not recycled properly. And there's a drought on.

Mobile phones also contain other precious metals such as Gold, Silver, Platinum, Copper, Titanium & Lead as well as others. All this metal can be extracted from the phone, smelted down and refined and reused in making brand new mobile phones or electrical gadgets. That next new iPhone or iPod you use could very well be using a part that was in an old mobile phone before.

So it's well established that recycling mobile phones can save a lot of money and help the environment at the same time. But the actual cost is much greater. As the demand for mobile phones and cutting edge technology gets greater and greater so does the demand for the materials and components needed to make mobile phones. Unless more mobile phones are recycled or we find a cheaper, safer and less energy consuming way to make them we are going to continue disrupting delicate ecological systems such as in the Congo and the Amazon rain forests where we are continuously mining for minerals and metals at a devastating rate for the plants, animals and other wildlife that life there.

So think before you throw that mobile! You can request a freepost envelope from most companies and send in your phone for free. As of my last post you will see some such as Sell Old Phone have a drop in center that you can literally walk into and recycle your phone for cash instantly!