Once your favourite communication device hits the blink, most of us don’t give it much after thought. In reality, phone recycling is a must for the environment.
Did you know that there are roughly twenty-three million unused mobile phones hiding in draws, cupboards and office cabinets all over Australia? Of those, over five million are broken or no longer working, with most of their owners understandably believing that they can be of no further use.
In reality, this isn’t actually the case. Mobile phones are made up of plastics and metals that aren’t biodegradable, but they can still be reused as a means to create something new, without the need for cultivating new materials. If you’re guilty of hanging onto an old device, getting familiar with why phone recycling matters might just motivate you to do something with it.
When mobile phones are thrown away in standard bins and sent to landfill, we miss an opportunity to reuse valuable materials. Recycling these materials prevents ‘virgin’ or new resources from being extracted from the ground, which in turn reduces greenhouse gas emissions.
In fact, recycling 50,000 mobiles has been proven to save close to one hundred tonnes of mineral resources, and twenty tonnes of CO2 emissions from entering our atmosphere. If saving the planet isn’t motivation enough, examples of how these materials are redistributed include the following.
Glass – Phone recycling breathes new life into the glass used for touch screens, as it is melted, crushed and used to produce other products that need similar amounts of glass. In some cases, it’s even used for jewellery or as a replacement material when repairing or constructing roads.
Aluminium – As a highly durable metal, aluminium is 100% recyclable and can be recycled regularly without degrading its inherent value – that is, if it’s not thrown away. Phone recycling enables the aluminium to be melted down and remade into new phones and other items.
Precious Metals – A small amount of valuable metals like gold, silver, palladium, platinum and copper can be extracted from a mobile phone as they are usually found on its circuit board. In addition, lithium batteries are processed to recover valuable materials like steel and nickel.
Plastic – Plastic sticks around in the environment for ages, threatening wildlife and spreading toxins. While it’s also one of the most unsustainable materials to produce, recycled plastic from phone recycling can be used to create new products without coal or fossil fuels.
What’s more is that phone recycling is actually easier than you might think. Although it’s not an option that most people would even consider on their own, fixing an old phone up and selling it is the very epitome of recycling – you’re reusing something old, instead of sourcing a new alternative.
If you can’t be bothered to sell or fix your phone to sell to a friend, family member or even a stranger, another alternative is to leave it to the professionals. Many phone repair stores, such as your nearest SOS Phone Repairs, are always on the lookout for devices that need a little bit of love as they already have a wide customer base looking to purchase second hand items from reputable outlets.
In the event that the phone has reached the absolute end of it’s lifespan and there’s no way to resuscitate it, throwing your old phone in the bin is still not the answer. In fact, a growing number of telecommunications stores like Optus, Telstra and individually owned phone stores will often have bins for customers to place their old devices in, before the bin gets sent off for professional phone recycling. Either way, the phone will live to see another day.
Explore Phone Recycling Methods With The Professionals
SOS Phone Repairs are specialists in high-quality, cost-effective phone repairs, tablet repairs, and PC repairs, all backed with a six month warranty. Founded in 2015 in Coffs Harbour and now with over sixteen outlets located all over Australia, our primary driving factors remain the same: people and phones.
Whether it’s to get a few more years out of your trusted iPhone, to fix one up to sell, or to repurpose an old one as a gift, repairing a smartphone or recycling your old one might just be easier and cheaper than you think. For those in the market for a new smartphone, SOS Phone Repairs also stocks a wide variety of refurbished handsets at a fraction of the cost of a brand new one.
If you are on the hunt for a quote, diagnostic, or even just some good old fashioned, friendly advice, please don’t hesitate to get in touch or give us a call today at SOS Phone Repairs.
