Eco Lesbo Vego

Recycle: Mobile Phones

Mr Teeny-bop is starting high school next week. He’s going to be catching the bus (the regular city council bus, not a school bus) by himself back and forth. His school isn’t far away, but it’s pretty central, on busy streets, lots of people. So Yankee Elv and I decided it was time for him to get a mobile phone, so he can contact us, or vice versa – just in case. He’s been wanting a phone for ages, so he is very happy!

Aside from the fact that new phones are expensive, for environmental reasons, we wanted to get a second-hand phone – so we have one on it’s way to our house right now (go ebay!). It’s all about the reuse.

Yankee Elv has been wanting a new phone herself for a while now too – one with a strong vibration, since she’s Deaf and can’t hear text messages or alarms. Since we were already on the phone hunt, we’re looking on ebay for her too. What should we do with her current phone though? We can’t just throw it away (ok, technically we can, but we won’t).

So we’re going to recycle the phone. Why? Well, let’s look at what happens when you recycle mobile phones.

• Some companies refurbish and reuse the phones if they are in good enough condition
• The batteries are taken apart and the nickel, cadmium, coltan, zinc, copper and cobalt is extracted and used in new batteries and other products
• Circuit boards have the gold, silver, copper and lead extracted and reused
• Any other heavy metals, like mercury, beryllium and arsenic are smelted and disposed of appropriately
• Plastic from handset casings is used to make fence posts and pallets
• Paper packaging is sent to standard recycling stations
• Other parts (including plastic packaging as well as pure and impure metals) are either recycled or go into landfill.

Yeah, I hear you. Why is it good that these items are recycled or reused?

• Many of the heavy metals used in mobile phones can negatively affect your health and the environment if they enter landfill or are not disposed of carefully
• The demand for precious metals to use in mobile phones and other similar devices (like remote controls) has led to war over the rights to the metal, mostly in the Congo and surrounding African nations
• Thanks to strip mining, the sourcing of a tiny amount of metal involves the displacement of tonnes of land
• Plastic doesn’t really biodegrade, so reducing and reusing is the best we can do (no need to contribute to the Pacific plastic soup)
• Recycling paper has a far smaller impact on the environment than creating paper from scratch.

Here’s a video, if you want more information:

I must say – it was only within the last year that I found out the impact of not just releasing but sourcing precious metals. I knew about blood diamonds of course – but never imagined that the phones, remote controls or jewellery I was buying were impacting the lives of all these people, caught in the fight for resources. I resolved then and there to minimise my use of new metal. That involved buying second-hand, recycled or sustainably sourced metal, and recycling whatever metal possible.

So why not try it? Don’t become a statistic, hoarding your phone in the back of a drawer. Hand in your old phone when you upgrade.

Besides, recycling makes you feel good. Promise.

January 22, 2009 at 1:47 am 4 comments