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.

[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?

[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.