Cell Phone Deposit Would Help Reduce E-Waste

$25 Cell phone deposits would help to reduce electronic waste. Success in the bottle deposit system has people promoting a similar idea for cell phones.

According to a forecast from the International Data Corporation (IDC), more than 1 billion cell phones will be shipped in 2013. Well most of it probably has been shipped already considering it’s almost the end of the year. These are staggering numbers given that there are already over 6 billion mobile phones in use in the world. 1 billion new phones mean 1 billion old ones are to be replaced. Most of those phones end up in the landfill, some recycled and others in some drawer in the house. Cell phones contain toxic chemicals, which go into the soil and subsequently to the water when thrown into landfill. An article from the Daily mail quotes: “Ubiquitous electronic gadgets harbor a staggering array of toxic chemicals, from dangerous flame retardants, PVC and bromine to heavy metals like lead, tin and chromium - and even mercury and cadmium.” Not only are they hazardous for the environment, improper disposal of cell phones is a waste of valuable resources like gold and silver.

Figure 1: EPA data from Municipal Solid Waste in the United States The current system doesn’t provide a user with any incentive to recycle their phones. Of course there are people who are environmentally aware, but that number is very low compared to the huge global population. According to the Environmental Protection Agency over 150 million phones were disposed of in the U.S in 2010, only 11% of them were recycled. The aim of a deposit fee is to encourage people to recycle more. This is quite similar to the bottle deposit system, which is in place in countries such as Canada and the U.S. The consumer will be charged an additional $25 at the point of sale, an amount he or she will be refunded when the cell phone is recycled. Not only does this provide an added incentive to the user to recycle their product, it also raises awareness about...