Every year, approximately 152 million cellphones are thrown away, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Wouldn’t it be great if these were recycled? Cellphones contain precious metals, such as gold and silver.
In the U.S., $60 million worth of the gold and silver is in the discarded cellphones, each year. According to Earth911, the EPA states that for every 1 million cellphones that are recycled, 35,274 pounds of copper, 772 pounds of silver, 75 pounds of gold and 33 pounds of palladium can be recovered. Palladium is a precious metal used to make electrical contacts, as well as surgical instruments and parts for watches.
These are critical metals to humans, as they can be used for all sorts of useful tools. And these won’t last forever! Our phones are using nonrenewable sources, and if we continue this without recycling, we will run out of the resources.
By recycling our cellphones, we are able to reuse the precious metals inside. In 2015, according to Consumer Reports, Apple was able to recover 2,204 pounds of gold — worth $40 million — from recycled devices. You can help Apple and other companies by recycling your cellphones when you stop using them.
There are many ways you can recycle your cellphones. Apple will send a prepaid shipping label to your house so you can send back an old device, regardless of the brand, to be recycled. Best Buy also takes used devices and recycles them. Another option is to check with your phone carrier.
In conclusion, we consumers, need to start thinking more about how we deal with our cellphones when we are finished with them. But, we aren’t the only ones who must think about this. Thomas Gradel, professor of industrial ecology at Yale University, stated, “So much of what makes the recycling of these materials difficult is their design. It seems as if it’s time to think a little bit more about the end of these beautiful products.”
This is a very important factor in cellphones, that we must begin to think much more about if we want to see cell phones in our future.
Rebecca Wagenheim
Northampton