How Are Old Mobile Phones Recycled?

By Author: Neo Nashville
Total Articles: 30
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When mobile phones break down, or become outdated, it is really important that they are recycled rather than just dumped as the handsets contain toxic parts that are damaging to the environment. When these go to landfill, they leak into the earth and essentially poison the atmosphere. If these handsets contain toxic parts, then what parts of the mobile phone are safe to recycle?

Many parts of your old mobile can be reclaimed and reused. Any plastic parts can be melted down for recycling very easily. Also, an average of 16 per cent of the weight of your mobile handset is made up of metals of different types. These include platinum and silver, all of which can be reclaimed. All in all, this adds up to around 80 per cent of your phone being of use for recycling.

Mobile phones can be a good way for parents and children alike to get in touch with each other in an emergency, or if one of them is running late for whatever reason. Some phones have a GPS chip installed in them, which allows parents to see where their children are at all times via a laptop computer or PDA connected to the web.

And it is not just your ...
... phone that can be recycled, but its accessories too. Any cases, batteries, handsfree kits, cables and mobile phone charge can all be taken away for recycling, with useful elements being extracted for further use.

Further to recycling, several mobile phone companies, all members of GSM, have teamed up to promise standardization on mobile phone chargers by 2012 for most cell phones. This is to help combat the huge numbers of useless old chargers that are thrown away every day. So this is another step in the right direction when it comes to mopping up the mess caused by our mobile phone usage.

Before recycling any phones, remember to take out your SIM card as this has a lot of important information on it that you may well want to transfer to your next mobile.

Because some old phones that are still in good working order are recycled by passing them on as complete handsets for reuse through charities and the like, it is best to remove all of your personal data from the phone.

However, you shouldnt rely merely on software controls to keep your children from abusing their phone privileges. It is highly recommended that you set down some ground rules for their phone usage, such as not letting them use it while eating, or when they are meant to be doing their homework.
Vodafone stock a great range of phones if you are looking to upgrade, or sim cards if you already have your phone of choice.