It’s Amazing How Recycling Mobile Phones Helps The Environment

Recycling mobile phones is an integral part in dealing with rising environmental issues, especially E-Waste, which is why there has been a deep research work going on for the past decade on how recycling mobile phones helps the environment.

How Recycling Mobile Phones Helps The Environment

Recycling is a long-term process that helps the planet to reconsider the efficient use of resources in order to meet the needs of people.

Before that, let’s consider some basic terms like What is a mobile phone? Well, it is a wireless device that allows us to: –

• Make calls and Receive calls
• Contact and connect with every part of the world
• Use it in multiple ways to minimize our work load

The users can : –

• text each other, call, watch videos, click pictures and
• It includes many other features. 

Materials used to make cell phones are:-

1. Glass
2. Plastic and
3. Metals

GLASS:  Glass is one of the major components of a cell phone device.

The glasses are made up of : –

• Aluminium oxide 
• Silicon oxide 
• An ultra thin layer of indium oxide.
• This allows users to touch the phones without causing any damage on the screen.

Some of the famous mobile phone companies are:

Some of the companies are : –

• Motorola
• One plus
• Nokia
• Samsung
• Redmi
• iPhone
• Asus, and many more.

There is another type which is better than Gorilla Glass and it is Sapphire.

What Is Sapphire?

Sapphire is a material, and it is manufactured from Aluminium oxide.

Why We Use Metals?

Metal is an important source for making cell phones.

Some rare metals used are as follows :-

• Dysprosium
• Praseodymium
• Neodymium-iron-boron alloys

These rare metals mentioned above are generally used to make : –

1. Speakers
2. Motors
3. Magnets which are found in a device.

Why We Use Plastic?

Plastic is used a lot and we use it : –

• Mostly to protect our phone from any kind of damage.
• To save it from the scratches which gets poured in the screen.

This is 21st century and nowadays these cell phones have become a crucial part of our life. Without cell phones imagining our life is almost impossible and this is where things go out of hand.

New generation especially follows a trend of buying luxurious new model phones every year, when most of the time, it’s not necessary, and they discard their old mobile phones.

A large number of cell phones are manufactured and discarded every year and we use plenty of resources. The resources used for making cell phones are actually costly. Heavy extraction of them causes various threats to our environment.

Recycling mobile phones can benefit us in multiple ways, like:

• helping in reducing the greenhouse gas emissions
• Prevents toxic materials from entering the landfills
• Protect the health of the soil and land, saving microbial life too
• conserves natural resources that can be replenished

There are many more environmental benefits of mobile phones, but I briefly listed some points to help you get an idea.

Raw Materials Involved

The raw materials involved are :-

1. Plastic
2. Glass
3. Epoxy
4. Synthetic rubber
5. Copper
6. Tin
7. Silicon
8. Chrome
9. Aluminium
10. Bronze
11. Lithium
12. Gold
13. Silver
14. Iron boron etc.

Most of these can be dug out of the ground almost anywhere.

The plastics are all made from small amounts of : –

1. Natural gas 
2. Oil.

A few of the elements, like tantalum, are scarce and are only found in a few places on Earth. A cell phone carries so much information and features that it can act as an Eco-warrior.

How Mobile Phones Can Become Eco-Warriors?

Here are few reasons for it to act as an Eco-warrior :- 

• Clean Air & Water:- There are sensors that exist already.
• They are so helpful that they can easily record and send real-time air-quality measurements.

Apps can help us to predict real-time quality of: –

1. Air and
2. Crowd-Pollution

In India, farmers are using smartphones for irrigation systems with the help of new research and discoveries. These cell phones are so optimized and efficient in terms of technology that they can be used easily for research purposes.

You can eventually:

1. take pictures, save them for later use.
2. You can analyze them.
3. You can make videos.

Scientists get a huge help from such websites or apps they create so that : –

• We can upload images and they can research well with all the great content available to them.
• New species can be discovered and more information can be gathered for existing species.

Some of the apps available are:

1. LeafView Project
2. EpiCollect etc.

What Are The Benefits Of Recycling?

The benefits of Reusing or Recycling cell phones will help the environment by

• Save Energy
• Recycling The Old Cell Phones reduces E-Waste
• Reusing These Smartphones Or Using Them For A Longer Period Of Time saves the planet, promoting sustainability
• Conserving The Natural Resources
• Keeping reusable materials out of Landfills.

Hazardous Materials Contained In Mobile Phones

Cell phones contains many hazardous materials such as : –

1. Lead
2. Mercury
3. Cadmium
4. Arsenic etc.

But in general, all these materials can be reused or recycled. None of them should go to landfills as they can contaminate : –

• Soil
• Air and
• Groundwater

Once they are recycled, we can use them in multiple ways and all these recycled mobile phones are used for:

1. Jewellery making
2. Electronic and
3. Automotive manufacturing.

Recycling a mobile phone will have a huge impact on the planet and natural resources, too, like, for example, Metals (they are used in millions of phones which can be reused).

So this also reduces the: –

1. Need to mine for metals
2. Saves a lot of energy
3. Saves fossil fuels.

Conclusion On How Recycling Mobile Phones Helps The Environment

Since fossil fuels are less used when we continue recycling mobile phones, then it can help us to limit the release of carbon into the atmosphere, and in the same manner, E-waste can be controlled, and this can also help us to prevent and deal with rising issues of Climate change and extreme rising Global warming but we need to use mobile phones effectively, efficiently and sustainably.