Recycling and Technology Disposal

Updated to a new mobile phone recently? chucked the old mobile in the back of a drawer? Well dig it out because it’s worth recycling… it might not be worth much to you but it can be a real benefit to registered charities… and it can soon add up.

When you recycle a mobile phone, not only are you saving a bit of the planet but you may also be providing an entry point into modern world of communications for some otherwise disadvantaged families and individuals in the developing world.  If a mobile phone cannot be put back into use, the components within each handset can be recycled, consequently resulting in reduced greenhouse gas production, which may help to slow down ‘global warming’.

Most mobile phone handsets are typically used for 18 months or less, before being replaced and in 2005, approximately 100million handsets  (weighing in at an estimated 250,000 tonnes) were retired in the EU alone.

Waste from mobile phone products is becoming a subject for rising concern around the world.  Although small, each handset is a complicated device, comprising circuit board, liquid crystal display, keypad, antenna, speaker, microphone, battery and sometimes a charger. 

Note that the circuit board and display comprise 98% of the environmental impacts during production and recycling.  These specific components contain persistent and bio-accumulative toxic chemicals (PBTs) which might be associated with various forms of cancer, and certain forms of reproductive, neurological and developmental disorders.   Arsenic, antimony, beryllium, bromated flame retardants, cadmium, lead, nickel, palladium, silver, tantalum, zinc and mercury are also contained within each handset in some form or other.  These can leak into ground water from landfills, when handsets are injudiciously discarded, and when incinerated the resulting airborne pollutants can damage natural resources and thereby impact our food chain.

Lead and cadmium, considered by the US Environment protection Agency as the two most hazardous elements, believed to be human carcinogens are toxic to wildlife and can pass through the food chain with adverse impact.

If that’s not enough to convince you that recycling is a good idea, then remember toxicity from casually discarded mobile phone handsets can be dangerous to your own heath and that of the generations to follow.

Recycling fulfils all pending and current legislation that governs the cycle of electrical waste in the environment, in particular a directive form the European Union and the Council on Waste Directives (WEEE).

Recycle today, to avoid mobile phone technology becoming tomorrow’s environmental catastrophe.

Contact your local Accredited Partner for more details.

Find the assistance you want.

Free advancement review
Planned, controlled and first rate assistance

Advance magazine
'Advance' is the business magazine of the  International Confederation for Business Advancement (ICFBA)

Supply Partner

registered  charity no:
1036904

© 2005  Worldwide Associates Ltd.

Terms & Conditions  |  Privacy Policy

Home | About Us | Process | Services | Articles | Community | Contact Us