What really happens to the phone you recycle?

Cell phone recycling is a commonly misunderstood term by consumers who turn in their phone to a recycling company. The word recycling implies that the cell phones are broken down into their raw materials for reuse in future products.However, this only happens with approximately 10% of the phones turned in.



These phones have truly reached their end of life due to their technological obsolescence which prevents them from working on any network worldwide. There are only a few materials that make economical sense to recover from phones, commonly the precious metals used in the circut borad.










The other 90% of cell phones turned into recycling companies are re-sold all around the world for re-use. Cell phones in developed countries, like the U.S., are rarely used for the full extent of their useful life, and are a primary candidate for re-use because their core functionality of making/receiving calls and text messages remains unchanged.

Greenpeace Article

Greenpeace recently wrote an article about where e-waste ends up. It's a great flowchart of the world's trash - and why it is even more important to recycle e-waste.

The Global Impact of Cellular Technology Adoption

While the economics of a business are among the first items to consider, its sustainability within the social environment is frequently a telling factor of long-term success. For Cellular Recycler, it is important to look at societal trends in recycling in the U.S. and global trends in communication, particularly in regards to developing countries.

Historically, there has been a technological imbalance between the affluent and less affluent and between developed and developing countries. Often referred to as the ‘trickle-down’ theory, technology products tend to be more expensive at the onset and therefore only available to the wealthy strata.

Over time, however, future iterations of the product become less and less expensive and therefore available and practical to the lower strata. The impact of this lifecycle on the cellular industry is that as cellular technology evolves, there will always be those who adopt the newest version and those who will wait, creating a continuous cycle of new and old product.

Cellular Recycler’s place in this industry allows us to help:

• Non-profits with fundraising support through our collection programs;


• The environment through prolonged use and proper disposal of cell phones; and


• Developing countries to increase the growth of their GDP.