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Recycling mobile phones and the benefits to the environment
 

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.