Mobile
phone technology is continually evolving and with this comes the
need of consumers to move with the times and obtain the newer models
of phones, which are released each year. However, as people purchase
their new gadgets to play with, what are they doing with their old
and unwanted phones?
In the UK, there is an
estimated 75 million unused mobiles sitting in drawers and cupboards
of people’s homes. The majority of these will end up in landfill
sites, which can have disastrous consequences on our environment.
Harmful chemicals such as cadmium and mercury, which are used in
mobile phones, have been shown to leak into our earth’s soil and
water supplies. The leak from one single battery can contaminate
600,000 litres of water and large areas of soil, affecting plants,
insects and wildlife.
There are now
companies set up to help combat this ecological problem that will
pay for old phones to be sent to them, in order for them to be
recycled, re-used or disposed of in an environmentally friendly
manner.
Recycling old mobile phones will
not only limit landfill problems, but also it will have a positive
impact on the Earth’s natural resources and help to reduce
pollution.
Natural metals, used
to make millions of phones each year can now be re-used, which will
reduce the need to mine for new metals. This saved energy means less
fossil fuel is used resulting in less carbon emissions being
emitted, which helps to decrease pollution and fight global warming.
Some of the unwanted
phones these companies have been sent have also been able to be
re-used in developing countries too. With landline access being
limited in many areas of the world, re-used mobile phones are fast
becoming the most popular way for people to stay in contact with
each other in dangerous and demanding places. |