Most all cell phones these days contain lead, mercury, cadmium, and arsenic. When you toss it in the trash, it ends up in an incinerator or landfill, where those materials can combust causing some major environmental issues. These materials often times sweep into the soil or drinking water which ends up affecting a lot more than just the landfill they get dumped in. Many of these materials like cadmium and lead are known to cause liver and lung cancer in humans. With the average person changing their cell phone about every 18 months, it's easy to see how these little devices can result in a much larger problem.
All Those Phones Add Up
If the average cell phone user is only holding on to a phone for 18 months, that creates a LOT of waste. The EPA predicts that more than 150 MILLION cell phones are thrown away each year. That's 75,000 tons of toxic material waste every single year. There is no sign of those numbers slowing or decreasing in the future. By recycling your phone, you are helping to cut down on this growing problem.
Just Because It's Not New, Doesn't Mean It Can't Work
About 80% of the 150 million cells that are thrown out each year are in perfect, or close to perfect working order. When you recycle your phone, it is thoroughly inspected for its quality and whenever possible, it is refurbished and resold. By recycling your phone, you've helped keep production costs down, and in turn it keeps product costs down as well.
Even If Your Phone Is Dead, It Can Still Be Recycled
Many times broken phones still have many working parts which are reused in the production of new phones. Even in the event your old phone is truly dead, all the metals and materials used to make it can be broken down and reused to make new cell phones. By re-circulating the materials, it can significantly cut back on the need for new metal mining. All this is done in a completely environmentally safe process. America Recycles Day
November 15th is "America Recycles Day". This national holiday is in its 11th year and going stronger than ever. Through the countless efforts of many local and national recycling and environmental facilities millions of Americans will learn what they can do to help. According to the EPA, if only 1 million cell phones were recycled, they could produce enough energy to power 1,940 homes with electricity for a full year! If 150 million phones got recycled that'd mean electricity for 291,000 homes. What better way to be a part of ARD than by starting off with recycling your old cell phone.
