Mobile Recycling??

Have you ever wondered what happens to all of your old and outdated cell phones when you get a new one roughly every 2 years?

Our family puts our old and malfunctional ones in our Wendy House for our little cousins to play with - because it seems that all children love phones!

I found a statistic for America...130 million cell phones are replaced annually... thats 130 million phones that have to go somewhere. I know we dont all just throw our old phones away as soon as we get a new one, but nevertheless, they will be kept in drawers until they become totally obsolete and disposed of at a later date. According to a study, that means 65,000 tons of trash!

As technology advances at exponential rates, rendering current technology obsolete, our society stives after acquiring the latest thing - in this case in the form of the most up to date cell phone model - and more waste is being created.

According to Dave Bell, "cell phones contain persistent and bio-accumulative toxic chemicals (PBTs) that are linked to cancer and a host of neurological, reproductive, and developmental disorders. Their components include: arsenic, antimony, beryllium, cadmium, copper, lead, nickel, and zinc; along with the brominated flame retardant used in the plastic parts."
Scary stuff! When we throw cell phones into the bins, they eventually end up contaminating our soil and water, and ultimately our planet.

We are a consumerist, wasteful world. Currently, less than 10% of phones are recycled, but there are initiatives that are coming into being in order to solve the problem.
In England I recycled one of my old phones. Envelopes are provided in puiblic places like libraries or post offices, and you can put your old phone into one, and post it off for free. This also helps the organisartion that sets up the scheme (maybe an animal anti-cruelty society), to raise money.
In February of this year, California implemented a compulsory cell phone recycling scheme where cellphone retailers are now required to establish a collection and recycling program.

Australia has implemented a nationwide cellphone recycling program and the European Union is considering a move to make manufacturers responsible for electronic product wastes.

Virgin mobile in the USA has become the first carrier to include a postage paid recycling envelope in the box with every phone it sells.

Reuse is the most common form of recycling, so when you send your phone to Virgin Mobile for recycling they first attempt to refurbish it and give it to a new Virgin Mobile customer. Or, they'll send it on to people who are in need of a mobile phone, at a reduced price. If they can't re-use or re-furbish the phone you send in, then they'll recycle it in an environmentally correct way.

I have seen adverts in South African newspapers placed by buyers of old and used cellphones, but I have yet to find a country-wide campaign or organisation that promotes cell phone recycling. Lets hope it comes about soon.