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How often do you buy a new smartphone? The average American buys a new one every two years. With more than 1.5 billion mobile devices being purchased each year, it’s easy to wonder where the old ones go. Sometimes, they sit in drawers for years. Other times, they are thrown away (although they shouldn’t be!). Some savvy people are learning about programs to recycle mobile devices and turning to systems like ecoATM. If you aren’t already recycling your old phones and tablets, check out these reasons to start right away.
Recycling Lets Materials Be Re-Used
When you recycle your old cell phones and tablets, you make it so that the old materials in them can be used for other projects. Instead of sitting in a landfill and causing environmental damage, their raw materials can find other uses. Mobile devices have materials such as glass, zinc, copper, tin, and a range of others that can be mined and used in other electronics or projects. In fact, just 1 million cell phones can create about 800 pounds of silver or more than 35,000 pounds of copper.
Recycling Helps Prevent Health Issues
Mobile devices contain mercury and other potentially harmful components. While these components are relatively harmless when exposure is in small doses, such as using a single phone, it may become harmful in larger doses. People who live near landfills that are full of old electronics could develop health issues such as immune or nervous system issues, memory loss, or muscle weakness if they are exposed for long enough. By recycling your mobile devices, you help to ensure these harmful components aren’t sitting and causing problems for your community.
Recycling Reduces Energy Costs
Recycling your old mobile devices could be reducing energy costs by reducing the amount of sulfur, carbon dioxide, nitrogen, and other pollutants being released into the air. This is because your recycled devices can be refurbished and resold, thereby creating fewer new cell phones that need to be manufactured. Fewer new phones mean fewer pollutants and less energy.
Recycling Helps Other People
Not everybody can afford to drop a grand for a new smartphone or tablet every year. Even so, most people do need at least one mobile device to keep in touch with kids, keep up with work, or simply feel connected to the world. When you recycle your devices to people like the ecoATM professionals, you allow them to refurbish them and sell them to people for a more affordable price. By doing this, you make sure that people who may not otherwise be able to afford to stay connected can do so.
Recycling Lets You Make Money
Recycling your smartphones and tablets doesn’t just benefit the planet or other people. It also benefits you. Why throw your old mobile device into the trash when you can take it to a kiosk and sell it? Granted, you probably won’t make hundreds of dollars, but you’ll likely make a good chunk of change to go toward a night out or even a new device of your own. Keep in mind that the more high-tech your smartphone or tablet is and the better condition it is in, the more money you are likely to make off of it. Even better, when you recycle your device into a kiosk, you save yourself all the time and stress of trying to sell it yourself via platforms like Facebook Marketplace.
Regardless of where you decide to recycle your mobile devices, be sure to do so in a safe manner. Remember to remove any passwords, pictures, SIM cards, or memory cards and to reset the device to factory settings. Doing this protects our identity and your privacy.
