Recycle your old phone to reduce Eco Impact!

Cell phones are one of the most economical and essential life-long product in anyone's life today. The obvious convenience of having it makes you feel safe where-ever you are. With the facility that it has to quick-access for help when you need it and talk to the people important to you. Today, many of these phones are being offered with exceptional plans that may include, free airtime, cheaper long distance charges and in some cases cheaper international roaming charges. Service providers have started to offer life time incoming calls on pre-paid sim cards of your cell.Realizing such a benefit, you feel comfortable that at least you are available on your mobile phone.

Prices are dropping every month, and so the craze of having newer models is also increasing. This means that there are many old-fashioned handsets which have been scratched, dented or broken, or are simply outdated, which would be eminently suitable for recycling. By the time we actually get around to seriously consider disposing of them, the handsets are obsolete and worthless. Or so we think. But if they had no value why is there such demand from businesses and charities for our unwanted mobile phones?

The fact is most handsets can be refurbished. Only about 3-4 per cent of the phones received by recycling companies are BER (beyond economic repair).There's a good chance the phone you donated to charity, traded in for a new one at work or sold through. Some mobile phone networks buy reconditioned mobile phones and sell them on to customers who are after a fully functioning phone for a lesser price than a new handset would cost. These reconditioned phones are often that have suffered ‘cosmetic’ damage such as a cracked screen. Whilst the original customer gets a new one, the old phone gets its screen replaced and is sold onto a new customer for a discounted price.

Even handsets that are BER are valuable. They contain small quantities of metals such as platinum, gold, silver and copper which may end up as jewellery. Batteries contain nickel which can be combined into stainless steel for saucepans. The plastics can be melted down to be made into sheeting or traffic cones. According to the EPA, if Americans recycled the 100 million cell phones that are no longer being used, enough energy would be saved to power more than 18,500 homes for a year.

Getting involved in recycling cell phones is a worthy cause which can help prolong the future of the planet. With many incentive schemes out there, it can also pay everybody to dispose of their old items responsibly. But these aren’t the only benefits that can come from recycling. Those who want to help noteworthy causes or charities can donate their old handsets to such causes. The effort required to this is very little more than the effort required to put it in the trash, and a good bit more rewarding.