Green Corner: Before You Buy That Phone …
Before you buy a new phone—or tablet or computer—think carefully. In the US, 416,000 cell phones are tossed out every day, with less than 17% being properly recycled. In 2022, 5.3 billion phones were trashed worldwide; if stacked, those phones would reach a quarter of the way to the moon!
Phones leach toxic chemicals like mercury into landfills and groundwater. Plus they waste valuable, limited resources such as copper that should be recycled, rather than mining new copper for new electronics.
What to do?
- Buy a refurbished phone – excellent sources are here and here or check out this guide.
- Keep your current device a year longer.
- Recycle your old phones so the materials can be reused.
More info:
- The tragic costs of e-waste
- 5.3 billion mobile smartphones become waste
- Used iPhones can deliver huge savings