Nowadays it is pretty much impossible to find a person who does not own a cell phone. The US population spends about 5.4 hours a day on their mobile devices. Furthermore, the majority of us buys a new phone every 18 to 22 months. These stats beg a question: what happens to the older still perfectly working cell phone models we no longer want? 

Unfortunately, the reality is sad: only about 10% of unwanted smartphones are actually recycled. The remaining 90% eventually end up being discarded, which translates into about 100 million cell phones dumped in the US alone! In one of our recent posts, we talked about the importance of recycling electronics.

Why Trashing an Older Cell Phone is a Problem?

For one, electronic devices, phones included, contain several types of harmful components and materials. Being one of the fastest-growing types of e-waste, our beloved mobile devices are contaminating landfills, and polluting water and air with lead, mercury, and other toxic chemicals. And mercury is known to cause brain damage and is also linked to causing cancer. 

But there are steps you can take to properly dispose of your cell phone and therefore help to reduce pollution. Thankfully, up to 70-80% of the material used in phone production can be reused and recycled. 

How Does Recycling Help in the Long Run?
 

• Reducing carbon dioxide emissions. For example, the carbon footprint of an Apple iPhone comes up to 180.25 lbs of CO2-e, the same amount is generated by burning through 8 gallons of diesel fuel. Taking into consideration that 217 million iPhones are sold a year, the released CO2-e is now measured in megatons, according to research conducted by Statista. Now, recycling a cell phone allows the reuse of materials during future manufacturing and therefore avoids or cuts down greenhouse gas emissions.

• Saving power. One recycled smartphone yields the same amount of energy needed to keep a laptop computer running for 44 hours!

• Recover rare minerals and halt mining. One million recycled cell phones yield approximately 770 lbs of silver, 75 lbs of gold, and 35270 lbs of copper, all of which is perfectly reusable.

My Cell Phone is Working, but I Want a Newer Model, What Should I Do?

• Selling it would be the most obvious solution, but it is not always as simple as it may sound. Most of us lead busy lives, which leaves us very little to no time for research, listing, and meeting random potential buyers from Craigslist, which is especially not ideal during the pandemic, or worse, getting scammed on eBay. This is where buy-back companies like Gadget Salvation come in. You can get an instant cash offer, compare quotes, send your cell phone, and get paid for it, all while social distancing from the comfort of your own home. Reselling your used phone allows you to not only retrieve some cash out of it, but subsequently makes the technology more accessible to a wider population, as used and refurbished phones are much more affordable price-wise. But the best part is that the lifespan of that one cell phone extends from 22 months to 9 years on average!

• Another great option to get rid of your perfectly working older phone is to give it away to someone in need. It might not be the top-of-the-line latest smartphone model, but it will be a great help for someone who cannot afford to spend money on fancy technology. Secure the Call is an example of a non-profit organization that can help you extend the lifespan of your phones by giving them to disadvantaged citizens for emergency use. 

But What About a Broken Cell Phone?

If your phone is broken or just old and has no dollar value, the most sensible way to get rid of it is through local recycling centers. Recyclers make sure your phone is broken down to recover materials that are going to be reused to make a new device and to conserve natural resources. For example, the iPhone 11 logic board is made from 100% recycled materials:

Bottom Line

While technology rapidly evolves and gadgets quickly become obsolete, there are steps one can take to keep them in rotation longer, be it through reselling, donating, or reusing for scrap metals. Properly disposing of used cell phones not only gets you extra cash in your pocket but also plays a tremendous role in the efforts to preserve the Planet. Feel free to contact us about the value of your used technology, we’d be happy to assist!