Raise your hand if you have a drawer filled with old cell phones just waiting to be responsibly recycled. Keep your hand up if most of those phones have been in the drawer for over a year. Of the 160 million cell phones discarded annually, 75 percent of them end up in drawers or trash cans. A new company, Cycled Cells, takes in old cell phones, sometimes paying for them, and either recycles the phones or, if they can be rehabilitated, distributes them to phone-needy people around the world. They even pay for postage. [%comments]
Cash for Cells
TAGS: recycling, Technology
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Or we could demand phones with a longer lifespan to begin with…
Great business.
The problem with just donating for free it is that the average person has somewhat limited incentive to do so, other than just being a good person. Plus, if their current phone breaks, it’s a good back up, which is an incentive that often outweighs being a good person…
Wow! I just sold my old iPhones and BlackBerry on this site for a couple hundred dollars. What a great deal!
Easy process and polite service (I wasn’t sure what condition my phones were in).
What a great idea!
People need to be careful of assuming they “distribute them to needy people around the world.” It’s one thing if they don’t claim that and they just resell them for more profit (which is the most likely scenario). But by claiming that’s how they run this business (it is a business right?), they are being unfair to the consumer. For instance they pay you $116 for an old iPhone. Do you think they are making $116+ on “recycling” or “donating the iphone to a needy person?”
Companies that are tackling e-waste should be applauded and should start more companies like this. Just make sure that when you’re looking at these types of companies, look for the ones who are up front and tell you, “yeah, because we deal with all the hassle, we’re going to buy your phone for $100 and resell it for $115.” Nothing wrong with that.
Buts don’t think that on “CycledCells, you’re going to get $116 and donate your phone to a poor needy individual. That $116 will get turned around for $130+ on an e-commerce site.
While not being paid for our old, disused, outdated phones, Mobile Muster is an organisation here in Australia which promotes mobile phone recycling.
http://www.mobilemuster.com.au/
The phones here are dismantled and parts recycled – batteries and circuit boards sent to South Korea, and the plastic casings recycled here in Australia to make composite plastic products.
Mind you, there should be a bit more room in our land fills now as non-biodegradable plastic bags from supermarkets have been banned in South Australia …
All of my phones have broken within a year of purchase, and I’m generally careful with electronic goods. Do people really buy phones frequently enough to have some that aren’t used and work?
Any old cell phones I’ve had, I’ve turned in to a woman’s shelter near here. They’re able to lend them out for 911 service to women who need them. Anyone who doesn’t have a shelter nearby can contact the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence to find out how to donate theirs.
I suppose I could have held out for money in return for my old phones … but they’re being put to good use.
One great option for cell phones is to donate them to your local domestic violence shelter. We remove all information, test them, and then give them to victims of domestic violence. They often times become a life-line to 911 services. These donated cellphones have saved many lives just in my small community.