As the number of smartphone users continues to grow beyond the billion-users benchmark, it is important to consider what the latest cell phones are made of and to understand the importance of recycling them. The materials used to make cell phones generally consist of:
Glass
Various metals, including common alloys, as well as some precious metals like gold and platinum
Plastic
These components are largely recyclable, and rare earth metals can be valuable and scarce. Recapturing these materials when phones are replaced or no longer functional is a matter of both economics and environmental responsibility.
According to Earth911, the U.S. is responsible for more e-waste than any other country. The same article presents more e-waste facts:
Around 350,000 mobile phones are disposed of each day (152 million per year);
There are 7.2 active billion mobile devices — which is larger than the U.S. population;
An estimated 40% of heavy metals are sourced from U.S. landfills.
To demonstrate the importance of recycling, the article mentions that every time one million cell phones are recycled, they yield: 35,274 pounds of copper, 772 pounds of silver, 75 pounds of gold and 33 pounds of palladium. This is important to consider since only about 12.5% of e-waste is actually recycled, according to the same article. It becomes important to understand and implement best practices surrounding cell phone recycling.
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Why Recycle Your Cell Phone?
Much of a typical cell phone is plastic, including the case and some smaller components. There also tends to be glass in the screen, as well as various metals in the circuits, battery, screen, and elsewhere. Cell phones can contain aluminum, cadmium, chromium, copper, gold, iron, lead, lithium, nickel, silver, tin, and zinc. And these materials cause many problems when thrown in the garbage.
On top of plastic pollution, many of the metals in mobile phones are toxic to humans and other animals, as several have potential carcinogenic effects. In a 2019 study of metals in discarded phones, researchers noted a “statistically significant increase” in the toxic content of smartphones between 2006 and 2015, with the largest carcinogenic risk posed by nickel, lead, and beryllium. Silver, zinc, and copper are also linked to other health risks, the researchers wrote, while copper “dominated ecotoxicity risks” from phones.2
When possible, cell phone recycling programs keep devices intact and put them to further use rather than breaking them down and recycling the pieces. The latter method is the safest and healthiest way to dispose of dead or badly damaged phones. Parts can either be sold individually or shredded and added to other recycling. Metal components may be smelted and reconstituted, for example, allowing them to be reused
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