Recycle your Cell Phones, PDA or Pager…

e-Waste

http://www.terracycle.net/media/09-03-04--traveling/09-03-04--traveling.htm.

Even though yesterday I admitted that I’m essentially glued to my cell phone, I’m pretty good about using the phone I have until it’s totally dead. But I’ll have to get a new phone eventually, so what should I do with this one? My friend suggests me to recycle this phone. Then, I asked her, why should I recycle my phone?

There are more than 500 million used cell phones in the U.S. sitting in people's drawers or worse, in our landfills, and another 130 million will be added this year alone! Electronic waste is the most quickly growing waste concern worldwide. The average life span of a cell phone is only eighteen months. On average 130 million cell phones are retired annually in the U.S. alone. Therefore, cell phone recycling is imperative. Nationwide, it is estimated that only 1% of retired cell phones are recycled or reused. The remainder litter closets, drawers, and unfortunately landfills. Cell phone recycling has even become a requirement in some states and counties. California has enacted legislation that requires retailers to accept obsolete and retired wireless phones from consumers at no charge. In addition, New York also has legislation that requires wireless telephone service suppliers to accept obsolete and retired cell phones at no charge to the consumer.

I will suggest a legal body to make legislation on how to manage old discarded cell phones in proper ways. Why I chose that old discarded cell phone to be managed in proper way just like solid and hazardous waste? It is because cell phones have changed the way the world communicates and become such an essential item that in the developed world it’s difficult to find people who don’t own one. Ever-advancing technology has meant that the cell phone has developed from its origin as a bulky phone that looked and felt like a brick, to the modern sleek and almost weightless phone. As a result of this people are upgrading cell phones at a rapid rate. Have you ever stopped to think about what actually happens to your old discarded cell phone?

Cell phone components contain hazardous materials such as mercury, lead, cadmium and arsenic that can contaminate the soil and groundwater. Electronic waste is becoming a serious problem. When you discard your cell phones in the bin they end up in landfills where they are an environmental hazard as discussed in this following website:

http://www.greenpeace.org/international/news/e-waste-nigeria180209.

You can do your bit to help the environment by recycling your cell phone. Cell phone manufacturers, including Nokia and Motorola, as well as cell phone retailers, offer cell phone recycling programmes. Even communities are getting involved by starting cell phone recycling drives.

If they’re in good working order cell phones are donated to those in developing countries, or to poor local communities. Some collection projects resell the phones and donate the money collected to food programs, wildlife preservation projects and other charities. Cell phones that are not working are disassembled. All plastic parts are recycled and used to manufacture other plastic products. Metals that can be reused are transported to developing countries, where the recycled material is used to make a variety of metal products. The components that can’t be reused are smelted, refined and disposed of according to environmental regulations. Cell phone recycling companies accept all makes of phone so when choosing which company to use find out which charities they support and how they are recycling cell phones.

Why I thought that cell phone recycling is a good idea? It is because cell phone recycling prevents contamination of ground water and soil from toxic chemicals in batteries and other cell phone components. By the way, cell phone recycling helps manage waste and means that less space is used at landfills. Furthermore, cell phone recycling means that plastic parts can be recycled and used in other products. The most important thing, cell phone recycling prevents further consumption of non-renewable resources

There’s another key green issue with mobile phones: radiation. And to me, that’s much more worrying. Electromagnetic radiation has the potential to damage or alter living tissue, and it can also affect wildlife, such as addling the natural ability of birds to use the Earth’s magnetic field to guide their migrations. Mobile phones now exist worldwide in such terrifically vast numbers that the effect of radiation is a serious worry…..

If you’re getting a new mobile phone, look for the SAR (Specific Absorption Rate) rating - the lower the better.

So, you have a new cell phone; now what should you do with the old one? The choice is YOURS