Many people overlook smartphone recycling when replacing their old phones. However, discarding old tech can impact the environment. This is particularly true since, according to Statista, 62 million metric tons of Electronic Waste (E-waste) is generated worldwide.
Reduction of Electronic Waste
According to an article on CNN, only 22% of all E-waste is documented properly recycled. The value of refurbished phones in reducing E-waste is becoming more recognized. For example, according to a report by The French Environment and Energy Management Agency (ADEME), smartphone refurbishment saves 87 kg of raw materials on an annual basis.
As market demand also grows due to more price-conscious customers seeing the benefits of pre-owned smartphones, the value of refurbished cell phones delivered by wholesalers and distributors is also rising.
Conservation of Resources
E-waste conservation involves various methods. One straightforward way to help protect the environment is cell phone recycling.
However, more advanced phone recycling processes include the removal or reuse of internal components associated with the extraction of precious metals, minerals, and other sub-components. Reducing water usage is also crucial. It takes a lot of water to manufacture digital technologies. Current manufacturing cycles require up to 3,200 gallons of water to produce a single smartphone.
Mitigation of Environmental Pollution
In 2022, The National Library Of Medicine suggested that more than 5 billion smartphones would be slated for disposal that year. With projected smartphone production growing by 12% annually, the disposal of obsolete mobile devices will remain a significant challenge.
Simply discarding old cell phones is not a viable solution for environmental management. Mobile device disposal can potentially produce toxic emissions created by incineration, equally noxious water run-off during disposal operations, soil contamination from hazardous elements in landfills, and dangerous elements appearing in local water tables.
However, there are better ways to deal with environmental pollution, including smartphone recycling and refurbishment. Several advantages of these processes are:
- Reduction of global E-waste
- Reduction of water use in manufacturing
- Reduction of toxic emissions during manufacturing
- Reduction of chances of significant hazmat events
- More efficient use of the total stock of smartphones
Smartphone users have a responsibility to make environmentally conscious purchasing decisions, similar to the responsibility of manufacturers.
Promotion of Circular Economy
Several years ago, a new business theory emerged in the commercial market, particularly in the production sector. The theoretical model was defined as a circular economy.
In the old model, raw materials were sourced, manufactured into finished goods, sold into the market, and then discarded once obsolete. The model was established as a “take-make-waste” process.
The approach created enormous waste and generated hosts of negative impacts for the environment. In response, industry leaders established a new model, now referred to as a circular process. The same manufacturing processes apply, but with one important difference: The final step involves recovering and recycling waste.
Remanufacturers break down obsolete products and recovered parts to create entirely new products of the same type or different kinds of goods. The new model could be defined as a “take-make-reuse” process. The goal of the evolved model focuses on using existing materials as core manufacturing resources, reducing negative environmental impacts.
Conclusion
Awareness of the importance of mitigating E-waste is growing rapidly. Selling refurbished and recycled smart devices supports this effort by limiting the use of raw materials, reducing energy consumption, and minimizing waste – particularly E-waste – in landfills.
