Did you know that recycling approximately 200 cell phones could give enough gold to make a solid gold ring? Or that if you recycle one ton of cell phones you could get about 3.5 grams of silver? Says INFORM, a US-based organization that deals with the effects of human activity on the environment and human health.
Many of us throw away cell phones that work just fine, for newer and better models. Be honest, how many times have you changed your cell phone in the last two years because you found a higher-end model that had more of the features you wanted? Twice? Three times? So what happens to your old cell phone? Do you just dump it in the trash? Sell it? Is it still lying in a drawer somewhere in your house gathering dust?
Cell phones contain toxic materials that can be hazardous to the environment and to your health if they are not disposed of properly. Cell phones contain lead, antimony, copper, nickel and chromium. These materials are not known to be harmful while inside a phone. However, when a cell phone is dumped in, say a landfill or an incinerator, seepage of these materials into the soil occurs, causing irreparable damage to the soil. If phones aren’t properly disposed of, they may even contaminate the ground water.
So what can you do? Either you can use the phone longer until it reaches the end of its shelf life, or you can sell it to someone who has the need for it (and make some money along the way!). The third option is to recycle.
After a cell phone is sent for recycling, it is first checked to see what defects it has and if they are minor, they are repaired. After deleting the old data on it, it is then sold to low-end carriers for re-use. Or sometimes working parts from these phones are taken out and a new phone is assembled from it. If the phone cannot be refurbished or its parts cannot be used they are melted to recover valuable metals as cell phones have a high intrinsic metal value.
So not only does recycling of cell phones mean that hazardous materials do not contaminate the environment, recycling also leads to recovery of metals - meaning less mining and hence a safer environment for you and your kids. So the next time you’re about to dump your phone, think again. Think recycling.
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