Recycle Mobile Phones for Cash at Cell Phone Recycling Centers (and Chargers, Too)
By Chris Telden
The Value of Recycling Mobile Phones
If you have several mobile phones you want to recycle for cash, check out these numbers for inspiration: Buried in the electronics of the 500 million cell phones that were obsolete and stored away in 2005 were $17 millon in copper, $31 million in silver, $199 million in gold, $63 million in palladium, and $3.9 million in platinum. Even the plastic in mobile phones is recyclable.
Hundreds of millions of cell phones are sold in the world every year. There are over a billion cellphones in existence, and by the end of this year, there may be twice that number. With this kind of volume, recycling mobile phones for the trace amounts of copper, silver, gold, palladium and platinum in their circuit boards seems utterly worth it.
Yet according to the EPA, only 10 percent of mobile phones are recycled each year. Forgetting motives of avarice for a second, think green: recycling cell phones would
- keep them out of landfills
- reduce greenhouse gas emissions (recycling a million cell pones is the equivalent of taking 33 cars off the road for one year)
- save energy and other natural resources (in 2006, the recycling of 100 million mobile phones would have been the equivalent of providing electricity to almost 20,000 households in the U.S. for one year--and would have recovered over 3 metric tons of gold).
Because of the growing accumulation of these valuable electronics, Nokia, Samsung, AT&T, Motorola, Sony Ericsson, Sprint, VerizonWireless and T-Mobile have become involved in recycling efforts.
Last Updated: March 10, 2010
What Happens to Recycled Mobile Phones?
After it's received at the recycling unit, the mobile phone is evaluated for the best way to dispose of it:
- reusing it as is or refurbishing it (usually, giving it to charity or marketing it to developing economies such as those in South America and Latin America)
- safely dismantling it and sending it to facilities that can recover its parts, such as smelters in Europe or Canada for the recovery of its gold, silver and other precious metals.
Then the recovered metal scrap is used in products such as metal plating, jewelry, electronics, plumbing faucets and pipes, art foundries, and catalytic converters. The plastics may find new homes in outdoor furniture, containers, and even as fuel. Even the packaging materials can be recycled and used in fiber board.
How to Recycle Mobile Phones, Chargers and Batteries
Before you dig out and recycle old cell phones you own, make sure you:
- cancel the contract by calling the provider, if you haven't done so already
- erase the phone's data manually according to the manufacturer's instructions, or using a cell phone data eraser tool, and
- take out the SIM card (if your mobile uses a GSM network)
To recycle mobile phones, mobile phone chargers, and cell phone batteries, and in some cases wireless handsets, headsets, power packs and clips, you have several options. Most mobile phone recycling programs are donation-based; a few get you cash back.
- Take the old cell phones to a retail outlet for AT&T, T-Mobile, Sony Ericsson, Best Buy, Sprint, LG Electronics, Office Depot, Staples or Verizon Wireless.
- Contact the maker of the cellphone and arrange to mail in the phone, batteries and/or charger. You can contact any cell phone recycler for any cell phone you may have--they don't just usually limit themselves to one brand.
- Mobile phone recycling station
- Internet auction
- Donate cell phones to charity
