In some states, it's illegal to dump your cell phone in the bin.. and for very good reason.
I still remember my first cell phone - a Sony Ericsson brick. I was ultra cool at the time because not many folks in my town had one. That was only in the mid-90's. How things have changed.
Just about everyone has a cell phone now. I hate the damned things 90% of the time and I often wonder how we seemingly got by pretty well without them. Since my first phone, I've only had 2 new phones - the rest are hand-me-downs from family members. I may not be ultra-cool or hip anymore, but I'm never with a phone ... or 3.
The average lifespan of a phone in the USA is 18 months. They don't stop working (I still use one from 2001 at times); people simply want the latest and greatest and gotta have features that marketers convince us we must have. Our new, top of line phone that we pay $xxx for is relatively worthless in a very short time; so the phones are often stashed away or thrown out with the household rubbish.
While the cell phone industry has created a lot of jobs, the level of consumption has also created a toxic nightmare. It's estimated there are over half a billion used cell phones in the US - both tucke away or in landfills. Around 130 million will be added to that number in the next 12 months.
Some of the toxins your phone may include:
- Lead
- Mercury
- Arsenic
- Cadmium
- Brominated compounds
- Polyvinyl chloride (PVC)
- Antimony
- Beryllium
- Barium
- Selenium
- Chromium
When disposed of in landfill, these chemicals leach into the soil and ground water. Many of the toxic compounds in cell phones are persistent and bioaccumulative. They build up in the fatty tissues of creatures, and then are concentrated at the top of the food chain - animal predators.. and humans.
Cell phone recycling is easy
There's so many recycling options now for cell phones in most countries. The phones are either:
repurposed - e.g. given to charities
refurbished - spruced up and then resold, often to people in poorer countries who can't afford the latest models
recycled - precious metals, plastics etc. extracted.
Finding a method of recycling that suits you is as easy as going to your favorite search engine and typing
location cell phone recycling
or
location mobile phone recycling
.. where location is your town or state. Often organizations will send you a prepaid envelope to put your phone in, so it's very convenient. Some recycling and refurbishing companies will even pay you a small amount of cash for your phone!
Perhaps you could do a cell phone drive in your street, school or club? It can be a good fundraising exercise!
There's gold in them thar phones!
Here's an interesting factoid. According to the Sumitomo Corporation of Japan; 230 grams of gold can be recovered from 1 ton of old cell phones; yet 1 ton of mining waste only generates 62 grams of gold. At today's gold price, one ton of phones has approximately USD$6000 worth of gold in it; but extracting the gold yourself isn't something you'd want to try yourself - it's a dangerous proces.
Recycling your cell phone makes sense on so many levels - from environmental, health, financial and right through to humanitarian benefits.
