What is involved in recycling a cell phone?
Once they arrive at a collection facility, the phones are powered up to see if everything works. Some cosmetic work is done, personal data is removed and new software is often loaded on to prepare the phone for reuse. More than half of the phones received by recyclers can be refurbished and reused with minor repairs. Refurbished phones may be resold in the U.S. to smaller carriers or distributed as replacements for phones that break while under warranty. Refurbished phones may also be sold internationally. The phones that can’t be reused are sent to smelters who reclaim the valuable materials they contain.
