Owning a mobile phone has now become an essential part of everyday life. Without that little electronic device in your pocket, life would feel empty. How would you be able to post all those witty status updates or search through the internet’s myriad pictures of cats? You’d probably sooner cut off a limb than give up your mobile phone. But with the estimated 20 million handsets that are upgraded every year in the UK alone, how many mobile phones are just lying around unused? Answer: lots.
If you’re one of the millions of mobile phone owners who change their handsets annually – even if your current device is in perfect working order – think about how many of your old phones you’ve still got. You might keep one ‘just in case’, which is fair enough, but if you’ve got multiple spares then it’s time to lighten the load. If you’re thinking of just throwing them out, however, think again. Mobile phones contain hazardous toxic materials, including lead, that are not only damaging to the environment but also highly dangerous to health. 40% of the lead found in landfill sites is thought to originate from e-waste such as discarded mobile phones, and has the adverse effect of polluting an already polluted environment. Think what that’s doing to all those cats you look at online.
Along with all the toxic substances leaching into the earth, mobile phones also contain small amounts of precious metals like gold and silver. Add together all of the mobile phones that are thrown out each year and that’s an expensive amount of gold lying around in landfill sites, so throwing out your unwanted phone is not only harmful to the environment, but also incredibly wasteful.
We understand how important it is to some people to have the very latest device, and with technology continuously advancing it’s all too easy to be left behind when a phone you bought only a few months ago suddenly becomes ancient thanks to a new release. Instead of building up a personal collection of old mobile phones that you don’t use and no longer need, consider recycling them with onrecycle.co.uk. OnRecycle gives you the best possible price while making sure that your unwanted mobile is properly recycled. They do all the hard work for you, so you can feel that you’ve done your little bit towards saving the planet and make some easy cash in the process.
