How can I reuse or recycle old mobile phones?

Mobile phone

I think this is up there with printer toner and ink cartridges: lots of places – including some charities – take them to reuse or recycle – but does anyone have any particularly noteworthy suggestions?


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56 Responses to “How can I reuse or recycle old mobile phones?”


  1. Kara says:

    I don’t know if it is the case in your country, but in France, there are some charity associations (I think of Emmaus) which clean old mobile phones (if they work of course)

  2. Serabi says:

    If they are kept charged they can be used as emergency only for calling 911. Useful in the glove box.

  3. Pete says:

    Always carry one around… So if you are totally angry or mad you can always smash it to the ground :)

  4. KeaponLaffin says:

    I imagine Googling ‘cellphone recycling’ would be a good start. Saw a news report on the ‘largest cellphone recycling company’ recycles the thingies by refurbishing them and selling em to developing nations..So thas extra nice.
    Alternatively, recycle it in pieces. The battery to battery recyclers, and I imagine the larger computer/electronic recyclers accept them as well. They just melt em down for their component elements, after all.

  5. Jeff says:

    sellyourcell.com

    US based, you get money for your old cellphone. they pay for shipping and everything. I got $50 for some old phones I had sitting around.

  6. Blambo says:

    In the US, there are charities which will take old cell phones and give them to women who’ve been in abusive relationships, so if something bad happens (like their old boyfriend shows up) they have a phone to use.

  7. trish says:

    domestic violence shelters will give them to clients for a way for them to call 911

  8. Andy says:

    Tesco will take them off your hands for recycling, and give you up to 500 club card points if they still work!

  9. Mike says:

    Tesco run a scheme get your freepost envelope in store. Get 500(if phone working) 100 (if phone busted) clubcard points or they will Donate £5(if phone working) to the Red Cross.

  10. David Walker says:

    We are a company based in the UK, USA and Germany.

    we specilise in recycling, mobile phones and ink and toner cartridges so you could always send you phone to us.

    Cheers

    Dave

  11. manoj says:

    this is very good and couler ias very nise

  12. Elouise says:

    Give a broken cell phone to a gadget-mad toddler to play with. If he has his own cell phone to play with, chances are he will trash your (working) cell phone less. I met a boy of 2 who was immensely proud of his own (broken) cell phone.

    • Harshad says:

      Yes, I agree with you.
      My 2 year old son loves his cell phone. (my Siemens C35 which I bought in 1998).

    • Abbie says:

      i work in a preschool and we have phones for the children to play with, you put 10 on the table and they are gone in seconds, i look around and they are talking to each other with the phones held up the their ears! its so cute. also they are good in a treasure basket for younger children.

  13. I work for a non-profit that has started an electronic recycling program, LCI Recycles. We take in anything from Computers and Printers to Cell Phones and PDAs. For more information about the services we provide you can visit our website, http://www.lcirecycles.com, or you can contact me directly: 919-596-8277 ext. 175. We have Computer Recycling Drives the last Friday of every Month from 10am-2pm. You could bring it by then! 4500 Emperor Blvd, Durham, NC 27703

  14. simon p says:

    Theres a website- envirofone.com Basically they pay you for your old phone. I just got £15 (or £17.50 worth of Argos vouchers) for a not very moders Samsung phone. They even send you a freepost package.

    • Abbie says:

      i tried doing that for my new Alcatel OT708 phone but i cant get a penny from any ‘money for phones’ websites, i thought it should get something because its a touchscreen phone with internet and camera, but i can’t get anything for it

  15. Lynne Marsh says:

    Hi
    If you go to coolaphone website you get coola credits for mobiles where you can get credits to spend for really good things, eg iTunes, luxury hampers, a night in a luxury botique hotel
    Much better than a few pounds
    Have a look. If you want to help charity just put your phone in an envelope and address is to FREEPOST, BBC CHILDREN IN NEED – it will create a donation of between £4-£80 depending on what it is and condition. This runs all year not just around the actual CIN day

  16. Hi,
    I used mopay to recycle my phones. I have heard about coolafone but if you look at their site 1 cc is only worth 10p cash so not sure if you get brilliant value.

    mopay would be my suggestion – they have a really fast payment turn around too!

  17. lynne says:

    Easy, put in an envelope and address to Freepost, BBC Children in Need, this way your phone will be reused if possible or recycled in a totally greenway if not reusable. Any funds generated by reuse go to Children in Need, so far these phones have raised £101,297 for this present campaign and this figure is still rising.
    BE GOOD AND GREEN

    • Anne Bourne says:

      I have two HTC desire phones I would like to donate, but I am not sure how to clear information and contacts is this necessary.

  18. Alan says:

    We offer up to £200 cash for your old,new working and none working mobile phones or alternitavely you can opt to donate this to your chosen charity, it is up to the individual to decide. We have a national FREEPOST service and payment is within 7 days.

    http://www.greenertomorrow.org.uk

  19. Alan says:

    http://www.selloldphone.co.uk offer cash for old,new,working and none working mobile phones they have an online tracking system which enables users to track their orders and payment is within 48 hours after receipt of the mobile phones. They also accept certain chargers with certain types of phones. http://www.greenertomorrow.org.uk the sister company offer cash for printer cartridges

  20. Alan says:

    http://www.selloldphone.co.uk offer cash for old,new,working and none working mobile phones they have an online tracking system which enables users to track their orders and payment is within 48 hours after receipt of the mobile phones. They also accept certain chargers with certain types of phones and offer a freepost service with envelope provided if needed. http://www.greenertomorrow.org.uk the parent company of http://www.selloldphone.co.uk and the company offer cash for printer cartridges

  21. Harriet says:

    Recycle your mobile phone for Refuge to support women and children who have experienced domestic violence. In this country, one woman in four will experience domestic violence at some point in her lifetime and two women are killed by a partner or former partner each week – this is a fantastic way to support these women in need. Send your phone freepost to REFUGE, GREENER SOLUTIONS, FREEPOST, LON17592, MITCHAM, CR4 3UZ.

    Thank you!

  22. John says:

    If you are looking to sell your phone then http://www.recycleoldmobiles.co.uk will show you which recycler will pay you the most £££.

  23. Chris Story says:

    http://www.selloldmobile.co.uk offer cash
    for mobile phones
    old, new, working and none working. They have an online
    tracking system which enables users to track their orders and payment is within
    48 hours after receipt of the mobile phones. They also accept certain chargers
    when recycling mobile phones and
    offer a freepost service with envelope provided if needed.

  24. Tom Lucas says:

    Recycle your old mobile phone and printer cartridges and generate up to £30 to the British Red Cross. Just visit http://www.redcross.org.uk/recycle to order a freepost envelope. Thank you for your support.

  25. Hey,
    My favourite way of recycling mobile phones is sellign them to http://www.mobilephonexchange.co.uk/.
    They give a good amoutn of cash for your used mobile phone, I love it really. So far I’ve sent 3 of my mobile phones.

    The phones go to isolated areas, or are taken apart and sold to manufacturers. It’s great to do something good for the environment, and actually getting paid for that!

  26. John Varossy says:

    I found a website called http://www.sellthatmobile.com and i found the service second to none. Fonebanks quotes were around £11 and envirofone was £7 for a nokia 6310i. Well i had five of them and sellthatmobile.com paid me £14 each thats £70! I would of had around £55 at fonebank and £35 at envirofone.

    I really shop about when money is involved, however they had done this already and listed that model under their most wanted phones page where they guarentee to beat any other quotes. They also recycle phones in all conditions.

    All in all i would and have reconmended them to all of my family and friends.

  27. sam says:

    One great way to recycle your old mobile phone is through using sites like Mobile Phone Xchange. MPX is one of the UK’s leading mobile phone recycling sites, I used it and made over £110 from an old Nokia handset I had lying around.

    Visit http://www.mobilephonexchange.co.uk/ to go green while making money!

  28. fonesforsafety® is a London-wide and UK-wide project – supported by the Home Office, ACPO, London Met Police, The Body Shop, Comic Relief and the City Bridge Trust (amongst others) which reconfigures unwanted/old mobile phones into 999-only emergency phone alarms which are given to individuals living with Domestic Violence. Phones that cannot be reused are recycled – generating income towards sustaining the project. You can send phones (foc) to:
    fonesforsafety®
    c/o CRISP
    FREEPOST LON 15948
    London SE17 1BR

    or visit http://www.fonesforsafety.org.uk for more information.

  29. Alan says:

    great source to find out who pays the most cash for your phone phones, they compare the best uk recyclers around

  30. I’ve sold old mobiles online in the past and found the best website to use was http://www.cash4phone.co.uk they offered a good price compared to the likes of envirofone and mazuma and sent me my cheque quickly!!

  31. oracle says:

    http://www.mobilephonerecyclingcomparison.co.uk compare all the recyclers showing who pays you the most cash for your mobile phones, they also have jewellery, musics cds and other stuff on their site

  32. Freddy says:

    Simply Recycle offer very competitive prices for mobile phones regardless of condition. They have been established for 2 years now and are well known for their reliable and efficient service, i have had no problems whatsoever with them. There websites are

    http://www.simplyrecycle.co.uk and http://www.sellthatmobile.com

  33. Jenn says:

    Neat trick for teachers: keep an old mobile phone in your desk. When irritating kids’ phones go off in your lessons, confiscate the phone, do a quick sleigh-of-hand switcheroo for the broken phone and proceed to calmly smash it to pieces in front of the class. Having a hammer handy is especially impressive… You only have to do this once!

  34. Cyrus says:

    They can only be if you spare part by part.

  35. There are a lot of advertisers on TV saying they will purchase your old mobile phones (and the offer considerably less than what the phone is worth too), are they recycling the phones?

    • John says:

      Geoff – yes that’s right. Recycling / selling phones is pretty much the same thing.

      The amount of cash paid by each recycler can vary, and it a lot of cases the difference can be large.

      When you are selling mobiles online, it’s definitely best to check a comparison site out…this will hopefully save you time and will probably find you the best deal around too.

      Hope that helps.

  36. Alison says:

    I work for a charity and we are always looking for mobile phones to send to third world countries. If the phone is not working we will send it to one of the companies who offer cash for mobile phones. The cash we get for the phones helps raise vital funds needed.

  37. Sites like http://www.sellmyoldmobilephone.co.uk give you an independant price comparison of what you can get for your mobile phone from over 25 mobile phone recycling companies.

  38. There are a number of companies such as envirophone that will provide a recycling service for mobile phones.

  39. We are always grateful to recieve old mobiles phones which are sold to raise funds for Alzheimer’s research. You can send them to our office at Frenchay Hospital, Bristol BS16 1LE or you can ring our office on 0117 340 4831 and we will send you a bag which you can send Freepost to recycle and the money will still come to BRACE. Thank you

  40. Michal Diane Cottrill says:

    I donated all of my old cell phones to the service men and women overseas. The military has the phones fixed, if broken. Mine all worked and even had chargers with them. Give them a call. They will send you a postage free special envelope to mail them in. I came about knowing this because one day a mailer came to my mailbox. At least I know my phones were being put to good use and not in the landfill where so many things go.

  41. chris lennox says:

    you could save your old phone incase your old phone breaks . this could be handy if you need a phone straight away because the sim which you could transfer all contacts on should still work in your new phone

  42. mbuynow says:

    Hi, just found your blog which looks nice. So many friends have shared their opinions to recycle an old phone. It takes about 20 percent less energy to manufacture compared to most other phones, comes with an envelope to recycle your old phone and the packaging is of recycled paper.

  43. Hi – we have had a number of emails recently asking if we still accept mobile phone to recycle to raise funds for Alzheimer’s Research?
    Yes we do.
    If you contact us we will send you a FREEPOST envelope.
    Ring 0117 340 4831 or Email lynda@alzheimers-brace.org or write to The BRACE Appeal Office, Frenchay Hospital, BS16 1LE
    Thank you

  44. Anonymous says:

    you can take your old phone to the salavatoin army

  45. jeena says:

    Nice idea, Thanks all for the suggestions.


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