How Your Mobile Phone Can Help You Live Green

Reusing and recycling is becoming more and more common as society as a whole becomes more earth-conscious. Depending on where you live, you may even have to pay a hefty fine for not recycling!

Fortunately, giving back to the environment doesn’t have to be difficult or time consuming, especially when it comes to your electronics. In fact, doing so does more than just make your inner hippie happy. Living green also allows you to learn about advantages and deals you never would have discovered otherwise.

Intrigued? Here are some eco-friendly suggestions on how to buy, sell, and dispose your mobiles.

 
Recycle Your Phone

Do you go through several mobile phones a year while keeping up with the latest fads? Rather than leaving your unwanted mobiles to gather dust in your junk drawer, why not recycle them? There are lots of advantages to disposing of your phone this way.

Sadly, only a small percentage of mobile owners end up recycling their phones. For these reasons, companies such as Sony Ericsson, LG Electronics, Samsung, and several others are already working with recycling companies to help put unused phones to good use.

You can also find several recycling centers and drop off points located throughout the UK that are dedicated to recycling old mobile phones as well as other electronics.

Best of all, many manufacturers also offer cash, shopping vouchers, coupons, and other goodies in exchange for your old phone, allowing you to save a little green as well.

How does recycling your phone help Mother Earth?

For one, it helps keep phones out of landfills. What many don’t know is that the innards of many mobile phones can actually be quite harmful to the environment, especially the corrosive liquids found in batteries. Mobile phones are a bit like diapers and plastic shopping bags in that they last practically forever too.

That aside, when you consider the plastic, SIM cards, circuit boards, rubber, wiring, and other recyclable components found in many phones, it’s a shame to imagine all of that trapped under tons of moldering trash when it can be put to such good use.

The steps to recycling your phone are simple and don’t cost you a thing:

1. Before recycling your phone, transfer your emails, contact lists, photos, music, documents, text logs, and other information onto your new phone or your computer. Be sure to remove your memory cards and SIM cards so you can continue using them. Once everything is safely saved away, delete everything from your old phone.
2. Let the batteries run down completely. Once your phone has powered down, it’s ready to be recycled. Be sure to apply a strip of tape to the battery contacts on both the phone and on the ends of any loose batteries you include.
3. Don’t forget other recyclable accessories! Along with batteries, most recycling companies also accept chargers, headsets, mobile skins, headphones, obsolete memory cards, cables, and more.

As for packaging your phone, many phone manufacturers provide you with addressed recycling bags or envelopes to mail your phone to the desired location. However, if you plan to visit a recycling center instead, plastic bags, boxes, and large envelopes are good alternatives as well. These establishments are especially useful if you plan to recycle several phones at once.

Want to learn more? Check out these websites:

http://www.recycle-more.co.uk/nav/page1764.aspx?lang=_e http://www.recycleoldmobiles.co.uk/ http://www.recycling-guide.org.uk/mobiles.html

 
Sell Your Phone

If recycling isn’t your thing, you can make a bit of extra cash by selling your old phone. Doing so lets others get the most out of your old phone. For example, if your phone is in relatively good condition, many recycling companies will refurbish them, allowing others in need to get their hands on a much-needed mobile.

Additionally, websites such as Amazon, Ebay, and Craigslist allow you to safely sell your device. Preloved.com also provides a handy forum for you to advertise your phone for absolutely free.

 
Buy Used

Believe it or not, buying used mobile phones can result in you finding some truly amazing deals. This is especially ideal if you want a temporary, affordable phone to use while waiting for a particular brand to make its debut.

Don’t go into it thinking you’re at risk for getting shoddy electronics, however. Many times you’ll run across buyers who simply want to get rid of brand new extra phones that were received as gifts or prizes.

Buying used also allows you to get a wide variety of accessories for astonishing prices. This is perfect if you’d like to splurge on a few mobile skins to brighten up your phone or simply need a new headset or charger.

Best of all, you will be doing your part to give these phones and other goodies a second life as you put them to good use.

 
Keep an Eye Out for Recyclable Materials

Looking for a new phone? While browsing your store of choice, try taking a closer look at the box your phone comes in. These days manufacturers are doing everything they can to make a greener impression, and this includes using recycled cardboard and paper in their packaging. Some, such as LG Electronics, are even going so far as to use earth-friendly soy ink in their instruction manuals. Kooky!

Of course they’re not stopping there. Solar powered phones and energy efficient chargers are becoming more and more common as people become more energy conscious. Other green phones are emerging that are made from recycled plastic, rubber, and even biodegradable ingredients such as corn.

Buying from companies that promote such earth friendly methods of packaging and manufacturing, you are doing your part to ensure that mobile companies around the world continue to put the environment first when it comes to their electronic devices.

 
Check Your Manufacturer’s Policies

If you’re concerned about whether or not your mobile company of choice is making the right choices regarding the manufacture of their products, check their policies regarding the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment directive, an edict that is hilariously acronymed WEEE.

WEEE is a policy that manufacturers such as Sony Ericsson, Samsung, LG, and several others uphold to ensure that their mobiles are properly recycled. This allows for trace amounts of valuable elements such as silver to be reused, which saves companies the effort of mining them.

In addition to this, WEEE also regulates the amount of silicon plastic, zinc, nickel, steel, and harmful materials such as arsenic or mercury used to safe, reasonable levels. These materials are known for contaminating soil and water sources if not disposed of properly.

By following any one of these suggestions, you will be doing wonders for improving both your environment and those around you.

When you think about it, it’s amazing that you can do so much with so little effort—that by using products with recycled packaging, you can help eliminate waste, or by mailing off your unwanted mobile in its recycle bag, you can provide a family in need with a own phone.

Each day, more interesting green options are becoming available. Check them out today and see what you can do to do your part.

 
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