Cell Phones

It seems that every time one turns around there is a cool new cell phone with deals and discounts to match it arrival. Old cell phones are easily replaced with new ones, but the conundrum of what to do with their old cell phone always seems to rear its ugly head. In an effort to go green, the best thing one could do with their old cell phone is to recycle cell phones. It’s an easy way to make the environment a better place.

One of two things will happen when you recycle your old cell phones.

1. The cell phone can be reused. This means that the cell phone is refurbished and distributed again as a recycled cell phone to those wireless companies throughout the world who are in need of a more frugal communicative option. If, however, it is not in decent enough shape to be reused then it will be refined.
2. Refining means that there is no retail value to the recycled cell phone and it can’t be resold. However, it still aids the environment by taking the phone apart and bringing it back down to the basic metals used such as copper. By choosing to recycle cell phones, you can personally aid in replenishing natural resource supplies.

To recycle cell phones, there is a strict environmental policy put forth by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). No cell phone pieces can be sent to landfills. The materials for those call phone which were not redistributed are regulated to be melted down to natural resources here in the states, as opposed to refining the materials in developing countries. This ensures that the environment is protected and meeting environmental regulations. By following the EPA guidelines for no outsourcing of refinement, other environments throughout the world are kept safe from pollution or exposure to toxic metals.

It is important to know that cell phones do contain toxic metals such as lead and mercury which will pollute the environment by releasing their base into the water which jeopardized the health of humans. This can only be avoided if people recycle cell phones instead of throwing them away. The metals in cell phones are listed by the EPA as persistent bio-accumulative toxins which means once they are released they build up instead of human fatty tissue and then cause a high risk of damage to the reproductive system, the nervous system, cancer, and developmental problems in children.

Therefore you should choose to recycle cell phones so that you can take preventative measures in stopping this. Call phones, chargers, batteries, and phone accessories can all be recycles. Anyone can send them into a local recycling center or drop them off at the center in person. There are specific companies and recycling centers throughout the states whose focus is to recycle cell phones in a larger effort to make the environment a better place. Contacting your local recycling center is the best way in which to locate the closest center or address. Donations can also be made toward the effort to keep harmful and toxic metals out of water systems and back into the natural resource stockpile.