Research has suggested that 80% of the mobile phones are recyclable. Here in the UK, a mobile phone is used for 20-24 months before either end up in the drawer or in landfill. You can earn extra cash by recycling your old, broken, faulty or unwanted mobile phone.
Each mobile phone recycled can save enough energy to power up a smart tablet for 55 hours. Every year almost 32 million new mobile phones enter the UK market and only 7 million are being either sold as used or getting recycled. When we recycle 1 million mobile phones there are potential to extract 33 pounds of palladium, 76 pounds of gold and almost 800 pounds of silver and many other precious metals. Therefore, by recycling mobile phone protects the environment by not excavating for virgin materials.
On the other hand, if these devices end up in landfill, they can be very hazardous because they contain harmful material such as; cadmium, lead, mercury and arsenic. Therefore, these can contaminate air, ground water and soil. Perhaps the important aspect to remember is, some of the materials can be recycled and reused for better purposes.
A well-known company (Apple) has introduced an initiative in 2015 to trade-in old phone. However, there was some concerns with the programme that the offered trade-in price was not attractive enough for the consumer to sell their old phone, so they decided to either keep them in their drawers and not to recycle or trade-in. However, FoneBucks ensures the best prices for any broken, faulty, damaged, old or unwanted phone.
Currently, 90 million mobile phones are kept in drawers, worth almost 700 million pounds. If these devices end up landfill, they can potentially harm our planet by polluting soil, water and air. Therefore, it is our responsibility to protect the environment by taking advantage of FoneBucks initiative Think Big | Think Green to recycle as many old mobile phones as possible. It is all for our future generations.