Sell your old phone with the environment in mind

When people try to sell old or unused mobile phones, they will usually just do a search for “How to sell my old phone” on search engines. However, this search phrase is incomplete. They are missing five words, which are “with the environment in mind.” Wait, what? Why should you keep the environment in mind when trying to sell your phone?

Environmental effect of mobile phone manufacturing and disposal

The manufacturing of a typical mobile phone is a very complicated process which takes a toll on the environment. For a start, the extraction of minerals such as palladium, aluminium, copper, lithium, lead, mercury, cadmium, etc. creates a chain reaction of pollution starting from the construction and deployment of mining and excavation equipment to the heavy refining of ores to create process raw materials. Plastic synthesised from fossil fuel and glass from the melting of sand generates quite a large amount of waste into the ecosystem.

These industrial activities, along with the phone assembly plant, need a huge amount of energy which comes from fossil fuel and coal (although green energy are rapidly gaining ground in power generation).

The large amounts of pollution from electronics waste are becoming a major source of concern for countries around the world - and this is even before we consider the dangers from improper disposal of phones. Many landfills around the world have become ticking time bombs as the dangerous elements from the phones slowly seep into underground water system which will consequently endanger humans, poultry and livestock, and agricultural activities..

The benefit of finding the right phone recycler

Mobile phone recyclers with Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) and Authorised Treatment Facility (AATF) certifications adhere to strict protocols which regulate the collection, handling and disposal of mobile phones. These protocols ensure that the disposal process will prevent the waste product will end up damaging the environment, whether in the short term or long term. They are also designed to protect workers along the supply chain from being exposed to harmful contaminants.

So when you chose to do your business with certified recyclers, you will stop becoming the problem and start being part of the solution.

Worth mentioning that while many companies online will prominently display their ethical environmental process, very few of them are actually certified. As such, if you are in doubt, ask for the certification to be published on website.