Why collect old cell phones?

[billjustbill]

Here's a short blurb about what is inside a million recycled cellphones....

smart spending


6 reasons not to buy a smartphone


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Smartphones are toxic for finite resources

Only 8 percent of cellphones are collected to be recycled, according to research from the Environmental Protection Agency, or EPA, in 2009, the last year for which data are available.

Whether smartphones are sold or recycled, anything beats tossing them. While newer smartphones contain fewer toxic chemicals, phones produced before 2010 were teeming with bromine, mercury and lead, according to a chemical analysis by iFixit.org and HealthyStuff.org, released in October 2012.

Throwing away a smartphone -- or any cellphone really -- is nearly a criminal waste of resources. And, it could be literally criminal since there are laws on the books in 25 states mandating e-waste recycling. Though the waste exists in tiny amounts in individual phones, the millions of smartphones sold annually represent hundreds of pounds of valuable metals and minerals.

Every 1 million recycled cellphones yields 35,274 pounds of copper, 772 pounds of silver, 75 pounds of gold and 33 pounds of palladium, according to the EPA.

While there is no shortage of options for recycling your old smartphone, the process of recycling is still sketchy.


Read more: 6 Reasons Not to Buy a Smartphone | Bankrate.com

 

[MT_Joe]

Funny...I have close to a dozen old phones in my junk drawer, and my current phone isn't even a "smart" phone.

 

[TommyB]

I found about eight Iphones in the wet sand this last summer. Gazelle was very good to me. They buy DOA phones I find in the wet sand.

 

[Professor of Engineering]

Interesting thread.

 

[Bumpstick]

I got $75.00 for a wasted, broken screen I phone I found in the lake. It wouldn't evan light up when plugged in.

 

[cyberdan]

Bill, Your thread is right up my alley. I buy and recycle every cellphone I can get my hands on. If I remember correctly the count is up to 25,500 phones right now. I do not do the dirty work like tear down and boil in acid. I sell to a local recycler who only buys cells and computers.

Yep, there is money in those stinking phones and I did use the correct word STINKING!!!!!!!!!!! Think about it. Someone owns a phone and talks and spits into it for 2 to 3 years. Then I buy a batch of 500 and put them in the back of my SUV. Then my car sits in the sun all day with the windows up.

That and ebay is putting my daughter through college.

 

[Bassmaster96]

Bill, Your thread is right up my alley. I buy and recycle every cellphone I can get my hands on. If I remember correctly the count is up to 25,500 phones right now. I do not do the dirty work like tear down and boil in acid. I sell to a local recycler who only buys cells and computers.

Yep, there is money in those stinking phones and I did use the correct word STINKING!!!!!!!!!!! Think about it. Someone owns a phone and talks and spits into it for 2 to 3 years. Then I buy a batch of 500 and put them in the back of my SUV. Then my car sits in the sun all day with the windows up.

That and ebay is putting my daughter through college.

Are you still selling your escrap right now? I've been holding for a little while until the price comes up. Any ideas when it will?

 

[dieselram94]

Hmm, I just threw one away the other night. I still have some laying around (I get a new smartphone every year and a half or so) I guess I'll save them from now on...


Sent from a empty soda can!

 

[Bassmaster96]

I buy them at yardsales when I can find them. The only problem is you need volume on them. I normally buy them for a quarter or so and sell them for a little over $1 each. The smartphones should sell higher than scrap value though.

 

[Beachkid23]

I buy them at yardsales when I can find them. The only problem is you need volume on them. I normally buy them for a quarter or so and sell them for a little over $1 each. The smartphones should sell higher than scrap value though.

Every time I pick up an old cell phone on the yard sale somebody wants five dollars for the thing. Nobody's used it in probably 8 years but you pick it up and the lady goes... oh I need $5 dollars for that. Only once did I find a whole box full of them probably about 200 of them for five bucks that was it. But other than that it's very often I can find one that's actually worth buying. What do you tell them to get them for quarter?

 

[dieselram94]

Every time I pick up an old cell phone on the yard sale somebody wants five dollars for the thing. Nobody's used it in probably 8 years but you pick it up and the lady goes... oh I need $5 dollars for that. Only once did I find a whole box full of them probably about 200 of them for five bucks that was it. But other than that it's very often I can find one that's actually worth buying. What do you tell them to get them for quarter?

I would just say "for this antiquated piece of crap? Lol I'll give you a quarter just so my kid can play with it and leave me alone for awhile!" Lol just kidding!


Sent from a empty soda can!

 

[Bassmaster96]

That's the problem, I don't find many of them for a quarter. One time I was at a yardsale and asked what the woman would have to have for the junk cell phone (it was an old Nokia that appeared to have been in water, and was beat all to pieces) and she said $1. I said how about a quarter (or 50 cents one) and she said no, those go for about $50 or so on the internet. Her son cells them sometimes and that's about what that one would bring. I laughed out loud at that. I couldn't help it.

 

[cyberdan]

Only once did I find a whole box full of them probably about 200 of them for five bucks that was it. What do you tell them to get them for quarter?

I would get about $190 for that box of phones. 99% of the time I pay 50¢ ea and get about 95¢ for it.
I also sell the battery and SIM cards separately.

 

[cyberdan]

...those go for about $50 or so on the internet. Her son cells them sometimes and that's about what that one would bring. I laughed out loud at that. I couldn't help it.

do we go to the same yardsales. Many times I make my offer, they refuse, I say goodby, and they change their mind as I am getting in the car. Doesn't happen on one phone but if they have several it does.

 

[Bassmaster96]

I really don't find that many, but normally they won't budge on their price, even when I walk off.