Cell Phone Recycling Guide

by Eric Lin
December 23, 2004

We cannot, in all good conscience, publish a buyer's guide recommending that you buy new handsets as gifts for loved ones (or even yourself) without recommending what to do with the old models. If the phone being replaced is new enough, you can always sell it off or hand it down to a deserving friend or family member who could use a newer model. However at some point in the hand-me-down chain, there is an old phone that is either going to collect dust in a drawer, or worse, wind up in the trash. It's these phones that we're after.

Experts estimate 55-100 million mobile phones will be retired this year. Despite the growing number of phones being recycled year after year, it is still less than 5% of replaced handsets. Unfortunately, far more (about 25%) are estimated to wind up in the landfill. The rest are handed down or laid to rest in a closet or drawer.

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