Recycling has become second nature to many of us, a habit borne out of necessity rather than anything else.
Re-use, as an alternative approach to recycling, has become the new buzzword, and explains the massive rise in popularity of vintage and second-hand shops.
Many of us who try to live a sustainable lifestyle are in danger of ignoring an easy way to contribute towards the protection of the environment. How? By recycling mobile phones.
Phone recycling is an obvious and win-win solution to the problem of massive numbers of mobile phones deteriorating in drawers around the UK today. Every time a network offers to upgrade a mobile phone user for free, another phone gets cast aside. It is estimated that an average of four mobile phones is unused in every household in the UK today. That's 50 million mobile phones!
You might wonder what all the fuss about phone recycling is about. Apart from the issue of clutter, why should we care about the mobile phones lying around; they can't be doing any harm so why should we bother to recycle mobile phones?
The problem is they are doing harm. It's been suggested that decaying phones release poisonous substances into the environment. Chemicals such as cadmium can leach into our water systems and infect it, while other nasties such as lead solder and beryllium are equally damaging to the environment. Other substances often found in mobile phones, like rhodium and palladium, (along with cadmium, lead solder and beryllium) have the dubious honour of being amongst the ten most dangerous substances known to humankind. Unless we recycle mobile phones, those deadly substances end up under the sea or in landfills.
If all that isn't reason enough to get in to phone recycling for the sake of our health, consider recycling mobile phones for the sake of our planet. Recycling mobile phones dramatically reduces greenhouse gas emissions, and every time you recycle mobile phones you keep valuable materials - copper and precious metals - out of landfills. As well as conserving natural resources, recycling mobile phones is the best thing you can do with your unwanted phone because reusing is the first and best way to recycle.
When you recycle mobile phones, either the mobile phone is repaired and passed on as a whole, or, the separate components are given a new lease of life as spare parts for other phones. In both instances, phone recycling reduces the need for energy and raw materials, which makes your decision to recycle mobile phones such a positive environmental choice.
While recycling mobile phones is the best thing you can do with your old phones for the environment, the absolute worst thing you can do with an old phone is throw it out with your regular rubbish.
It's clear that recycling mobile phones is in the interests of the environment but few people are aware that recycling mobile phones is in your best interest too. Why? Because phone recycling earns you money. Phone recycling means you get paid to sell for you for re-use. But if you want to make the most amount of money through phone recycling, do it sooner rather than later.
While we all know that our cars and computers depreciate on a daily basis, we often don't realise that our new and old phones are doing the same. Recycle mobile phones too late and bear in mind that it probably depreciated 5 pounds a month in the time it took you to decide to get into recycling mobile phones.
There are companies who specialise in phone recycling who will pay cash for a phone that you don't want. Web-based companies are fast and will often offer a better deal when you recycle mobile phones than the trade-in discount offered by a high-street retailer.
Find out how much you can get to recycle mobile phones by visiting a website that will recycle old phones and checking what your phone is worth. If you agree to the price, you'll receive a freepost envelope in order to post it back and it shouldn't take long until you receive a cheque.
Before you start hunting around the house to start recycling mobile phones, bear in mind that most companies will only pay cash for a mobile that is in decent working order. You can only recycle mobile phones if the phone switches on and off, is complete with no seriously marked bodywork or damage to the screen. For an old mobile to be suitable for phone recycling the LCD must work - this is more important than having fully working battery.
Recycle mobile phones to benefit from one of the quickest and easiest ways of making money. But recycling mobile phones won't make you feel good just because you are helping to protect the environment, de-cluttering your home and earning money! Have you wondered what happens when you recycle mobile phones?
Every time you sell a mobile and support phone recycling you are helping people in developing countries. How? Recycled handsets are sold to developing countries where they often provide the only means of telecommunication.
Landlines in developing countries are often too expensive, with huge start-up costs, or simply unavailable due to the lack of infrastructure. Supporting phone recycling helps families to communicate and businesses to run more effectively. Recycle mobile phones and know that your unwanted phones are sent to countries such as China, Africa, Pakistan and India where they are helping these developing markets to flourish and people to stay in touch. Doesn't that make you feel better about supporting phone recycling?
Many people around the UK are choosing to recycle mobile phones. Recycling mobile phones helps the environment, recycling mobile phones helps people in developing countries and recycling mobile phones earns you a bit of extra cash.
Phone recycling has not been around for long but the idea to recycle mobile phones is winning support from mobile phones users who want to recycle mobile phones they no longer use as well as other parties. Mobile phone manufacturers encourage recycling mobile phones because it makes them appear green, charities support phone recycling because it supports their ethics and they can often benefit from the sales of people recycling mobile phones. Local councils actively encourage people to recycle their mobile phones and many local businesses and corporations also support phone recycling.
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