The demand for cellphones has created a worldwide funnel where some cellphones and their parts re-surface in several forms before their final death.
Recycling: Within the e-waste stream there is a kind of reverse colonial economic system - a Belgian company, Umicore, 'mines' the recycled material from the e-waste and sells it to a Chinese electronics manufacturer that then sends his products back to western markets. Each cellphone contains about one dollar's worth of precious metals, mostly gold, and up to 99% of each cellphone is salvageable.
Based on mining industry and USGS data, the nonprofit organization, Earthworks, estimates that mining the gold for the circuit board of one cellphone generates 220 pounds of waste!!
Reuse: The Michigan company, ReCellular, sells millions of phones per year to 400 refurbishers in 40 different countries. Because the cost of a new cellphone is often prohibitive, the market in many Asian and African countries for refurbished cellphones is very large and growing.
Recycling and Reuse: The Colorado company, Collective Good, will take cellphones in any state of disrepair, and they will pay you for you working cellphone. The company donates a portion of their resale and scrap value monies to up to 500 causes.
Disposal: In a recent study (authored by a UCI professor), 34 recent model cellphones were put through an EPA test that simulates conditions in a landfill and they all leached lead a rate 17 times higher than EPA's hazardous threshold. It is estimated that only one percent of cellphones worldwide reach the recycling/reuse funnel.
Therefore, while we can't be sure where our recycleables end up, we can ensure that they pass from our hands to an organization that has a record of recycling and/or reuse. The worldwide funnel of e-waste ensures that the materials have many lives before their ultimate landfill death.
(classic Bacsik)
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