Cell phones and cell phone chargers contain toxic material such as lead, mercury and cadmium, which can end up in public drinking water and food sources. In the US, more than half a billion cell phones are ready for recycling, and more than 11 million phones are added to that total each month.
According to estimates, there are more than million discarded cell phones in the US that are waiting to be recycled. An additional million discarded cell phones will be added this year. Benefits of recycling cell phones. Cell phones have valuable material inside such as plastics, gold, silver and platinum.
The most valuable material is gold, which is used in the phone circuit boards. Chargers contain copper, which is less valuable but is still reusable. Recycling cell phones reduces greenhouse gas emissions and conserves natural resources such as gold.
How cell phone recycling works. Many people do not know how cell phone recycling works or where the programs are available. Improved technology has led to an over-reliance on mobile phones making them essential daily gadgets across the world.
The average American will buy a new phone after every 18 months. This results in about million phones that are discarded every year. With such high amounts, old cell phones have become the fastest growing form of electronic trash. This is causing a serious problem because electronic waste contains many hazardous materials. More so because many people opt to throw away their phones clogging landfills, polluting air and groundwater at an alarming rate.
You can make a difference and stop the pollution by recycling your cell phone instead of carelessly discarding it.
In metropolitan areas, recyclers sometimes coordinate with building managers to collect e-waste in bulk, according to The Verge. In that case, garbage trucks gather large amounts of e-waste and ship them to facilities where they are demolished by human workers with sledgehammers, shredded on assembly lines, and sifted by machines that sort precious minerals from junk and then pound everything into dust.
Precious metals and plastic are then collected into bags and sold to smelting operations or disposed of in a way that limits environmental pollution. As awareness of e-waste increases around the world, some companies are pursuing sustainable alternatives. In the meantime, however, that old maxim of sustainability — reduce, reuse, recycle — is still a good one to live by.
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Rerequest with Facebook. This account has been deactivated. Photo by rawpixel on Unsplash. And the phone that once seemed indispensable gets thrown away. Read More: How to Properly Recycle Electronics Avoiding Environment, Human Rights Abuse As a result, recyclers are often reluctant to take cellphones because the cost of stripping them generally surpasses how much the recovered resources can be resold for.
Finding Gold in Waste Electronic Recyclers International In the US, , cellphones enter landfills or incinerators every day , where they release toxins into the air, water, and soil. Other places specialize in recycling to mitigate environmental harm.
Read More: 7 Bad Habits That Are Also Bad for the Environment In that case, garbage trucks gather large amounts of e-waste and ship them to facilities where they are demolished by human workers with sledgehammers, shredded on assembly lines, and sifted by machines that sort precious minerals from junk and then pound everything into dust. The environmental cost of such a transaction is high — but the human cost is higher.
From experience, I can say that the smell in the air is dizzying, and sticks in your nostrils and throat for days. In the process, these workers are exposed to nickel, cadmium and mercury, among other toxic fumes , which leak into the surrounding air, ground and drinking water.
This can lead to a wide variety of serious, sometimes life-threatening health problems , including cancers and birth defects. When we toss our gadgets in the trash, the gold in the circuit board goes with them.
In response to these concerns, some manufacturers and retailers are starting to take steps in the right direction. Apple , Samsung , Best Buy and Amazon incentivize consumers to return old devices in exchange for cash or gift cards. Yet one of the big obstacles remains technology. Our best hope lies in a much bigger shift in perspective: Having manufacturers design expressly with reusability in mind. This cradle-to-cradle approach to production is a cornerstone of the circular economy movement.
Apple and other companies, for instance, have come under pressure to make screens, batteries and other components easier to replace and upgrade.
A loftier goal: Smartphones that separate into component parts at the touch of a button, freeing up materials to reenter the supply chain. The tipping point, as is often the case, will come down to economics.
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