Technological advancements by smart phone developers leadmany consumers to upgrade to newer and more advanced models when they become available. The contract model of many of the leading retailers is also designed to reinforce this behaviour as they will often offer a free upgrade at the end of your current contract. However, before you consider upgrading to a new phone, pay a thought to what you will do with your old smart phone. You may have only had the phone on an eighteen or twenty four month contract and the temptation may be to hide it away in the drawer with your other old smart phones and chargers. However, surely there is a better way to dispose of your old smart phone.
One option for you to consider is to recycle your old smart phone.
Many of the companies currently recycling old smart phones will provide a financial incentive in exchange for your old phone. Although it may not have any value to you anymore, the phone can be refurbished and sold on to another buyer. Or, if this isn’t possible, the individual parts can be broken down and sold on for profit by these companies.
By choosing to recycle your old smart phone you are also benefitting the environment. Smart phones contain many chemical elements that, if dumped into landfill, will start to degrade and infiltrate into the land and water system. Elements such as lithium and nickel are normal components within the smart phone but can cause harmful damage to our bodies and nervous systems if accidentally consumed. It is therefore essential that we remain vigilant to these dangers and ensure that such chemicals are disposed of responsibly to avoid such potential damage to the earth’s natural eco-system.
Once your phone has been recycled (either as a refurbished phone or into its component parts) it offers further economic and ecological benefits.
Refurbished phones can be sold on at a fraction of the cost of a new smart phone and are therefore ideal options for low income families. They can also be used by charities to provide mobile phone access to those in developing or third world countries for whom having access to a mobile phone can enable them to develop local business opportunities and trade. Access to a refurbished phone also simply allows people to contact each other across vast and inhospitable terrain.
The breaking down of old smart phones into their component parts also helps saves further destruction of the earth’s natural resources. Individual companies can also save money by purchasing recycled material to use in their products.
If you’re looking at your old smart phone and wondering how such a small device can possibly be used to provide raw material for other products then you need to think about the millions of smart phones currently in the world today. If you put the entire collection of old smart phones together, and see them as a potential resource, then you start to realise just how important recycling your old smart phone really is.
