Mobile Phone Recycling

There are now over 65 million mobile phones being used in the UK, and they continue to grow in popularity (Source: Health Protection Agency).

Mobiles contain several valuable materials and components, such as silver, which can be extracted and re-used. Some also contain substances that are highly toxic, such as cadmium.

Mobile phones also now come under the EU Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directive and must be disposed of accordingly.

Reduce

Do you need the upgrade? All contract mobile phone handsets are to a greater or lesser extent subsidised by the network. They offer handset upgrades as a way to extend contracts for another 12, 18 or 24 months - you pay for the handsets indirectly through your phone bills (by the end of your contract you will have more than paid for the cost of the handset).

When offered ugrades enquire if, instead of getting a new handset, you could keep your existing phone but reduce your monthly charges. The network's aim is to keep you tied to them - if you are happy with the service you will probably stay anyway. If they don't need to pay for a handset they may agree to reduce your costs!

Reuse

If you have had an upgrade and the handset is still in working order - it is probably useful to someone else.

- charity options for collection, or resale?

Recycle

Recycling and Re-use

Most schemes recover and re-use various parts from phones and their accessories. Parts recovery may include:

• Separate metals recovery (including precious and semiprecious metals): The mobile parts are ground up and useful metal content extracted. Metal can be extracted from batteries too.
• Plastic recovery: energy-from-incineration is used to recover plastic from components. Outer body plastic may be granulated and reformulated for use in mouldings.
• Recovery and downgrading of valuable components: e.g. flash memory devices.
• Re-use of parts: Useful parts include aerials, battery connectors, PCBs (printed circuit boards), connectors including gold-coated edge contacts on PCBs, ICs (integrated circuits), keyboards, LCD screens, lenses, microphones, phone housings, screws, SIM card assemblies and speakers.

When Recycling a Mobile…

1. Include the batteries and charger if possible. These add to the value of the phone.
2. Make sure that the phone is free of any contractual or other financial agreement.
3. If sending by post and not in an envelope provided, place the donated phones into a box (or strong envelope) with enough padding to prevent damage during transit.

How the Schemes Work

There are a range of schemes set up for recycling and safe disposal of mobile phones.

• Most are national.
• Small numbers of phones can be dropped off or posted. Larger volumes can be collected.
• Most schemes are free and some will pay cash.
• Many schemes aid charities.
• The schemes usually catalogue the phones, including IMEI and ESN identification numbers. SIM cards are checked and any found 'live' are (or should be) reported back.
• All the equipment should be recycled in accordance with the terms of current and draft EU legislation.
• You should be given an inventory and a Duty of Care Transfer Certificate that transfers the responsibility for safe disposal to the scheme.
• The batteries should be processed by a specialist reprocessing plant to extract the metals. (Source: www.envocare.co.uk)

Recycling Schemes

The companies listed below offer services that specialise in mobile phone recycling, however most companies offering Telecoms Equipment Collection services will also recycle mobile phones in larger quantities or included as part of a larger collection service.

Note: All organisations listed are either based in Oxfordshire, or have confirmed that their services cover Oxfordshire.

Drop-off Points

Postal/Collection Services

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