Recycling Cell Phones

Recycling Cell Phones / A Call to Action

Cellular phones or mobile phones are one of the most ubiquitous gadgets in today’s society. It can be found almost anywhere because of its usefulness as one of our leading communications tools.

No self-respecting businessman will be caught dead without at least one mobile phone. In fact most of us use them to keep in touch on a daily basis. Cell phones are no longer a luxury for the tech savvy but a necessity in a world constantly pressed for time. We need and love them so much that we replace them with newer and better models more frequently.

As of 2003 in the United States alone there are more than 500 million cell phones waiting to be recycled. These devices are still being kept or are have already been introduced to the waste stream.

This year another 100 million will be added and even more are projected to be added next year. The enormous number of cell phones and other mobile devices are presenting a growing concern for the environment. The US Environmental Protection Agency has urged people to recycle their devices instead of merely adding them to the nation’s landfills.

Recycling Cell Phones / Why Bother?

The average American gets a new cell phone every 18 to 24 months. The US Environmental Protection Agency says that Americans discard 100 to 125 million phones each year. This creates about 65,000 tons of trash each year making old cell phones the fastest growing type of manufactured trash in the nation.

Next to computers and monitors, cell phones are becoming one of the leading sources of electronic trash. Electronic trash contains an enormous amout of toxic material. And this toxic trash is clogging up landfills and polluting our air and our groundwater more and more every year.

Recycling Cell Phones / Putting Valuable Materials to Good Use

Cell phones are made from valuable materials. These materials all require energy and natural resources to extract and produce. As with other types of recycling, this type also results in savings of energy and other valuable and non-renewable resources.

Cell phone recycling also results in a great reduction of the emission of greenhouse gases. A big market for refurbished and reconditioned cell phones exists. If a cell phone is no longer usable all of its components are nearly 100 percent recyclable. At this moment only about 10 percent of all discarded cell phones are recycled each year.

ABS-PC 29%
Ceramics 16%
Cu and compounds 15%
Silicon Plastics 10%
Epoxy 9%
Other Plastics 8%
Iron 3%
PPS 2%
Flame retardant 1%
Nickel and compounds 1%
Zinc and compounds 1%
Silver and compounds 1%
Al, Sn, Pb, Au, Pd, Mn, etc. less than 1%

Thank you for visiting the Recycling Cell Phones page. For more information on the importance of recycling follow these links:

Recycling Prices

Cash For Recycling Cans

Aluminum Recycling Prices

Copper Recycling Prices

Recycle Carpet

Recycle Clip Art

Recycling Ink Cartridges

Recycling Lead

Recycling Metals

Recycling Old Computers

Recycling Paper