Phone recycling

[andrewducker]

So, what do these phone recycling places do with the phones they get?  Apparently I'll be able to get about £100 for mine - are they selling them on to people for £150 second-hand?  Stripping them for spares?  Anyone know?

Comments

[a-pawson.livejournal.com]

Older models are stripped for any valuable materials or reusable parts. More modern models are apparently cleaned, refurbished and then exported for sale to developing countries in Africa and other parts of the world.

[wildeabandon.livejournal.com]

I think they're selling them on as refurbished.

[communicator.livejournal.com]

It's in the phone industry's interests to remove products from the market, and the better the product the more they gain from destroying it. Same with cars. The business model might seem counter-intuitive but it makes sense.

[momentsmusicaux.livejournal.com]

They make them into Daleks.

[robhu.livejournal.com]

ha!

[scribb1e.livejournal.com]

I recently upgraded to a better phone, but kept to the same network. They gave me about £15 for the old handset but didn't actually take it away. So I still have it. It's not worth much, obviously, but I wonder if I can cycle it endlessly?

[andrewducker]

What are Mazuma offering for it?

[a-pawson.livejournal.com]

You may be surprised. I've used Fonebank in the past. Put the model into their website and it will tell you how much they will pay for it. About a month ago I got £80 for my 2 year old Nokia N95.

[poisonduk.livejournal.com]

I'm with Andy that Mazuma give more! Still curious what happens to them as they only want the phone and battery - no charger.

[a-pawson.livejournal.com]

I was at an RFID conference a few months ago and there was a lecture given by someone from the IPMI. He was saying that there is an astonishing amount of precious and semi-precious metal in an average mobile phone. I can't remember the exact details, but there is something like 0.3g of gold, 1.2g palladium, as well as significant quantities of nickel (mostly in the battery), tantalum (in capacitors) and copper that can be recovered.

But for certain, if they are paying more than a few quid for a phone, it is not for metal recovery. Those will be resold either here or more likely in developing countries.

I expect that they don't want the charger because reselling a piece of high-voltage electrical equipment is not worth the cost of carrying out the required safety checks.

[in-thy-bounty.livejournal.com]

We have links with these sort of companies at work and I'm really not sure what to think of it all. As well as recycling mobile phones, we also do things like clothing banks and until recently those bags that you get through your door asking for clothes etc.

The stuff goes to 'developing markets' in Africa and Asia. The companies we work with then donate a portion of the profits to us (usually under 10%) in return for the use of our name and logo, which is more likely to get people responding. A lot of people donate clothes believing they will actually go to sick children in hospital.

Anyway, I imagine all these companies operate in the same way whether the money is going to charity or to an individual.

[opusfluke.livejournal.com]

Recently wondered how much I'd get for my Motorola L6: £3.

[lilaanne.livejournal.com]

My work just gave me a new iPhone 3GS and I was considering sending my 8GB 3G model into one of these places. It seems that http://www.cashinmyfone.com/ pay a tad more (at least for Apple models) than the other websites. Unless you want tons or Argos vouchers.