I recently purchased a new cell phone, and my service provider offered to donate my old one to charity. I asked what charity would get the phone, and my provider said it would go to a domestic abuse agency, which in turn gives the phones to abuse victims. This prompted me to do some research.

Did you know that the average life span of an American cell phone is less than 18 months? According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, there are more than 260 million cell phones in use in the U.S. Approximately 170 million are replaced each year, with 90% thrown into the trash and only 10% reused or recycled.

Used cell phones are considered electronic waste, or “e-waste.” Cell phones contain hazardous substances such as lead, cadmium, chromium, copper, and precious metals like gold and silver. Cell phones dumped in a landfill or burned in a trash incinerator release hazardous substances into the environment. You should recycle your phone to prevent this contamination.

Recycling a cell phone can also help protect wildlife habitats. Coltan is a metallic ore used in making cell phones, and 80% percent of the world’s known supply is in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is mined by hand by groups of workers digging basins in streams, scraping away dirt to get to the muddy coltan underneath. Illegal coltan mining is known to occur in wildlife-protected lands across the Congo. Recycling used cell phones not only reduces the number of new phones needed, it also reduces the need for coltan mining.

A Lack of Legislation

Surprisingly, there is no national legislation requiring cell-phone reuse or recycling. In all but a few states, it is legal to throw your used cell phone into the trash. California, Maine, and New York have recognized the problem and passed laws requiring cell-phone service providers to take back and properly recycle used cell phones. In addition, an industry group known as the Rechargeable Battery Recycling Corporation and a number of national retailers including Best Buy, FedEx Kinko’s, and Staples have established used battery and cell-phone take-back programs.

Inform Inc., a non-profit organization, recently conducted a study on the effectiveness of state cell-phone take-back laws and voluntary retailer take-back programs. According to its results, New York’s take-back law was not effective. It was neither well enforced nor followed.

The organization also visited service providers and major retail stores with take-back programs. Although the service providers and retailers did take cell phones back, store employees generally lacked knowledge of these programs, and in almost all cases, the stores did not track the number of cell phones collected. Only 52% of service providers had signs to alert customers of their recycling programs, compared to only 20% of retailers with voluntary programs. Inform stressed the need for more effective legislation.

What happens to cell phones collected for reuse or recycling? They’re typically donated to charitable organizations or refurbished and sold for reuse. The principal markets for used and refurbished U.S. cell phones are Latin America and South America. Cell phones that are obsolete or irreparable usually have usable parts removed, and they are then sent to smelters in Canada or Europe for recovery of copper and precious metals.

Time for Education

My research taught me that we should not throw old cell phones into the trash, since this can pollute the environment. It also taught me that recycling an old cell phone benefits the community and may even help reduce illegal mining in wildlife habitats in the Congo. Further, it taught me that we need national legislation mandating cell-phone recycling. In the few places where we have state legislation, it does not appear to be effective.

So what can you do? Always recycle your used cell phones. Landfills and incinerators are not acceptable ways to get rid of e-waste. Want to do more? Take the Premier Farnell pledge. It’s a way to voice your support for e-waste recycling and for the enactment of national e-waste legislation. The pledge is part of the awareness campaign Premier Farnell recently launched to tackle the dangers of unregulated e-waste recycling in developing countries.

Right now, up to 50 million tons of computer e-waste is “exported” every year from the West (primarily the U.S.), with around 70% reaching Africa, China, and India. Most of this ends up with recyclers, many of whom use children as laborers, observing no environmental or health standards. The human and environmental impact has been devastating. Learn more at www.newark.com/green.

Kenneth L. Manchen serves as corporate director of safety, health, and environmental affairs at Newark/Premier Farnell Corp. He holds a BS degree in civil engineering, an MS degree in environmental science & engineering, and an MBA degree. He also is a Professional Engineer (PE) and a Certified Hazardous Materials Manager (CHMM).

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