Recycling Your Phone – What Actually Happens?

You are bound to have seen the ads on TV and on the internet, telling you to recycle your old phone for a cash return. And no doubt you, like many others, have wondered “what actually happens to the phone once it has been sent off to be recycled?”

Once your phone has been posted off and received by the company, the first thing that happens is, the company will need to assess the phone, to see if it is still suitable for use, and as you have described its condition in your original application. Once a thorough assessment has been carried out of the phone’s suitability, the phone may be sent for resale, repair or recycling.

This is one of the reasons selling your old technology on to an online recycling company are more beneficial that going down the local pawn shop. Another big benefit of course, is the fact that, even if your device is damaged, it can be sold, rather than relegated to a drawer in the kitchen or being thrown out altogether. There is still an opportunity to make a little cash for a broken device, even though the likes of a pawn shop wouldn’t touch it.

You may be now wondering “what good is a broken or damaged phone to anybody?”. Say for example, you wish to sell your Blackberry Torch that has been in the drawer at home for the last few months. It won’t turn on, and the screen has some slight damage. When you decide to sell your device on to a recycling company, there is an option there for you to describe the level of damage done to the phone. The company will give you a quote as to how much they may pay you for the phone, and if it looks good to you, the phone can be sent off.

What the company will do is weigh up how much it would cost them to actually have the repairs done on the phone. If it would not be too costly, the phone can be repaired, and then resold. However, if the phone would cost too much to repair, there is no sense in the company spending too much to have the repairs carried out, as there would be no potential profit to be made.

If it is too costly to fix, your phone will be sent for recycling. Even though the phone maybe doesn’t work, that doesn’t mean that specific components still won’t work. So for example, the screen is broken – however, the battery, internal speakers, microchips and so on will still be in working order. And these can all be used again by phone manufacturers to make new handsets.

So the phone will be broken down, stripped of all components that still work, which are then sent on to manufacturers to use again. Any broken down items like screens etc, can still be recycled in the traditional sense, the same way household items are.