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

[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.