Cell Phone Recycling

As demand for cell phones and other wireless devices has skyrocketed throughout the world, so has the number of obsolete and broken handsets being piled into landfills, and often leaking toxic chemicals into the environment. High population, combined with steep market growth, has made this an especially major problem in developing markets like China and India.

In an effort to address the environmental challenge of discarded cell phones, China Mobile teamed up with leading handset makers, Nokia and Motorola, in late 2005 to create the “Green Box” Environmental Protection Plan. The companies began working to encourage customers to return their old mobile devices for recycling, rather than simply throwing them away.

Quickly deemed to be a success, the Green Box program was expanded in the spring of 2006, and soon gained the participation of several other handset makers.

In North America, where electronics recycling has been available for a number of years, the issue of cell phone disposal has given rise legislative debate in some areas. Some local governments have even gone so far as to pass laws against the improper disposal of mobile devices.

Such laws have generally proven to be inefficient and almost impossible to enforce, however, leading most government regulators to leave recycling up to carriers and consumers.


Published by TeleClick Enterprises
Edited by Jeremy Maddock