We get asked by private individuals, “How can I recycle my old phone” quite often these days.

This is heartening, as it shows that folks are more aware of waste and the need to dispose of things appropriately. Bravo!

“Would we like to buy it?” No. They are not worth anything. They can’t be refurbished profitably, or sold on eBay. The differential between a new and a refurbished used one is too small. Next question. Sorry.

“Of course, then can be shipped to developing countries for re-use“. Another urban myth. Mobiles, yes, landlines, no. Or maybe we are missing a vital opportunity here, despite having worked in this market since 1999. Simply, they are not worth handling and shipping.

“The parts can be reused”. Sorry, “no” once again. They are mightily difficult to dismantle, an “electronic pomegranate”, all skin and no fruit, time-consuming and bitty. Of course, line and curly cords plug in and out easily, and could be reused, but these are the major “consumable” on the device, and wear out first. so are normally unusable. Next?

“Can’t you sell them on eBay?” I’d love to, but no-one wants to buy. We’ve tried. A decent new one is around ten pounds or less. It’s hardly worth bothering, unless you sell in bulk. Bulk buyers are usually businesses. And businesses tend to buy new. Some we don’t have the heart to throw away. And we do put them in our eBay shop. And they sit, and sit, and sit…

“Charity shops can sell them”. I don’t see many. Some decline to take them in the same way that they reject any electrical goods.

“Charities take them for free to support their work”. Yes, mobiles, which are sold into developing countries. Not used landline phones. For the record, we support charities such as North East Air Ambulance, Shelter, etc, by processing used landline phones that they have been given and can do nothing with. We give of our time and money for free. This writer is a former trustee of a charitable trust, and vice-chair of school board of governors, so would like to think that he’s in touch with charitable and voluntary organisations. Callers sometimes doubt this when I refuse to process their phones for free…

(Look, I’d better stop now. I’m depressing myself.)

So, some suggestions? Folks who call us often act as if they are trying to dispose of spent nuclear waste. I remind them that, as they pay council tax, their local authority are obliged to take their waste. What we used to call “the tip” will have a special area for electronic waste, and our current booming economy and wacky consumerism generates much of that, so any decent council will be geared up to handle it. In short, take it to your local recycling centre. You’ve already paid for their services.

And us? Yes, we take these in bulk from businesses, charge them for the collection, handling, transport and disposal. We work closely with a major trade-only telecommunications recycler who strips them down to extract circuit boards, copper, and plastic. All compliant with the WEEE Directive. And this costs.

So, if you wish to send your solitary old phone to us, you’d need to tape a two-pound coin to the base to cover our costs. We’re happy to take it, but need to pay to keep the lights on, staff fed, etc. Mail us for details.

If you are a business disposing of bulk phones, please be in touch. We have a free document to send which gives vital guidelines on handing (see the photo above…), FAQs, plus our tariff. If the devices are specific to a business phone system, that is, not the plain analogue ones described above, there may even be the remote chance of some value to be reclaimed.Meanwhile, if you find anyone who can transform old telephones into a 120ft yacht, please let us know. Thanks.

rob.govier@telecomgreen.co.uk

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 30th, 2008 at 1:17 pm and is filed under Telecoms Recycling. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.