Mobile phone recycling process investigated
Monday, July 29, 2013 - 15:01:10
Last week BBC News posted a report into the various processes which are involved in recycling old mobile phones once they have been sold or donated by members of the British public, making some interesting discoveries about what happens to an unwanted mobile when it is disposed of responsibly.
London-based recycling firm, Genuine Solutions Group, explained that the most cost-effective and sustainable way to deal with old mobiles is to either refurbish them for resale, or harvest as many working parts as possible, so that they can be sent back to manufacturers for use in new devices.
This means that the better condition a phone is in, the more valuable it is at the end of its lifespan. Recycling workers will take it to pieces, work out which components are still operational and pass them on to appropriate companies, so that they can enter back into the industry.
The phones which are refurbished or rebuilt after this process fulfil a variety of functions, often being sold overseas but also regularly being passed on to mobile insurance companies, so that they can be handed out as replacements for phones of customers which have been lost, stolen or irreparably damaged.
When phone components cannot be salvaged to be reused, the precious materials that they contain are reclaimed and then sold. Mobile phones are built using valuable minerals, including gold, which is why throwing them away is such a waste.
In 2012 the consumers of the UK spent large amounts of money buying 28 million mobile handsets, almost all of which will eventually be ditched in favour of newer models. This means that consumers need to be responsible and sell their old phones to recycling firms, not only to get some cash back from the transaction, but also to benefit the environment.
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