Adventures In Cell Phone Recycling

Despite working at Wirefly, I have a very old cell phone. I’m just not the sort to go looking for a new cell phone when the old one works well enough. Recently however, my carrier, Sprint, sent me a letter explaining that my antique cell phone was so old, that soon it would no longer function in some areas.

Like many people, I need my phone, so I began the (rather fun) process of deciding on a new one. At the same time, though, I started trying to figure out what was the best way to dispose of my old cell phone. I am not the “greenest” of people, but lately I have been trying to change my environmental habits and go green.

It turns out that there are about as many options for recycling a cell phone as there cell phones to buy. Some companies specialize in refurbishing a working cellphone for reselling, while others process them back into their elementary parts. Along the way I also found some pretty amazing statistics about the number of cellphones that are end up in landfills or as those in the recycling business call the “waste stream.�

According to eco-cell.org:

Americans discard more than 100 million computers, cellphones and other electronic devices each year. As ‘e-waste’ piles up, so does concern about this growing threat to the environment.

Almost all electronic devices contain hazardous substances. Because of that, it’s critical that you not simply throw your old cell phone in the trash. It’s a very non-green thing to do. According to grcrecycling.com, quite a bit of America’s electronic waste ends up in Asia:

[In Asia]…many families bathe and drink from the same water polluted by the unregulated burning and dumping of electronic components.

Obviously, you want to be green as you shop. Many people simply throw things “awayâ€?, without thinking about where “away” actually is. As it turns out, it’s the environment you live and breath in – not some happy magical place where bad things disappear and flowers grow.

I wanted to do the right thing. But it turns out there are many ways to do the right thing with an old cell phone. Picking a cell phone was relatively easy, but as I my research continued I was amazed at all the options for recycling… in fact, I thought it might make sense to keep track of the resources I’ve found.

I’ll continue to update the Wirefly blog with more specific ways to recycle that old phone of mine, as I find them – so stay tuned.