Cell Phone Jail

Bob Sullivan, an MSNBC technology consultant, recently wrote about the plight Americans are facing every day with postpaid carriers and some tricky ways out of your contract. As we all know, most wireless carriers in the U.S. make you sign your life away for a free phone. This practice effectively does two things, misconstrue Americans perception of the actual cell phone value (Razors are not free believe it or not) and forces premature upgrades.

Currently, the average life of a cell phone in America is 18 months, while its been proposed in certain studies that a cell phones have actually been designed to last up to seven years. Before there was a cell phone recycling market, this frequent upgrading was creating unnecessary e-waste. However, the general public is wising up and realizing that their old phone still has a use. Whether its being melted down for its precious metals, being provided as a 911 life line, or raising money for a non-profit, retired phones are increasingly finding an alternate home.

There are a myriad of companies out there that will take your old phone and find a second home for it, but how do you choose one? Here are some helpful hints in choosing a company to give your old cell phone to:

• Price guide: Make sure you read the fine print. Some companies will only pay you if your phone is in perfect working order. Also, don't be fooled into thinking your going to get the most for your cell phone just because they pay UP TO $300. Odds are your not going to have that type of phone to turn in, its a marketing scam.
• Shipping: Shipping should always be free. Most of the companies offer free shipping via USPS, UPS, or FedEx.

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Maine Adopts Cell Phone Recycling Law

Following California and New York, Maine became the third state in the U.S. to put a cell phone recycling law in place effective January 1, 2008. This law, closely following California's Cell Phone Recycling Act of 2004, requires retailers who sell cellular phones to provide a free cell phone recycling option to their customers. Starting January 1, 2009 retailers will be required to report how many phones were collected to the Maine division of the EPA.


For years now there has been a trend of state legislatures addressing E-scrap issues by passing laws requiring manufacturers to take back their own products when they've reached their end of life (here is a great site that is keeping track of who's doing what). However, cell phones are getting special treatment because of the value they carry in their second life. Private companies across America have proved for years that cell phone recycling is a profitable venture, and local governments are taking notice.

By making cell phone recycling a law, local legislatures are giving the economy as well as the environment a boost, as the more cell phones there are to be recycled, the more new jobs get created to process those cell phones.

What happens to the information on a phone that gets recycled?

The majority of phones that are recycled actually get re-used. But, before they can end up in an end consumer’s hand, they typically get refurbished. This is the process of cosmetically/functionally repairing a phone. During the refurbishing process phones will eventually be hooked up to a flashing station which clears out the memory of a phone in order to re-load new software onto the phone. The company that you turned your phone into does not necessarily have the capability of clearing the data of every phone that comes in their door, not to mention that it is cost prohibitive for them to do so.



However, its usually very easy for you to clear the data out of your phone before you turn it in. Go to the Security option in your main menu (or it could be under the setting menu) this menu option typically requires a password which is almost always the last 4 digits of the phone number that was registered to that phone (even if its not active). The key words to look for in the security menu are Master Reset, and Master Clear. These will usually erase your phone book, Text messages, and Call Log. If you are still having trouble, use the internet to search out your phone model + master clear.

Union Wireless to recycle cell phones for the American Cancer Society

Union Wireless, a rural telecommunications provider to Northern Colorado, Wyoming, and Utah, has setup recycling drop-offs at all of their retail locations. All proceeds from these recycled phones gets donated to the American Cancer Society.

Here is a cool add they were running during the Planet Earth Series on the Discovery channel.

To look up their store locations you can follow this link

EPA Press Release: Recycle Your Cell Phone. It's an Easy Call.

The EPA recenty issued a press release more specifically addressing cell phone recycling. The EPA's Plug-In to eCycling program, a partnership between the EPA and electronics manufacturers has been in existance for a number of year now, but it appears that the EPA has decided to put an emphasis on the cell phone recycling component.

Reasons for this may be due to the sustainable nature of cell phone recycling, as there is a large market for old phones which helps cover the costs of cell phone recycling and in some cases can even net in a profit.