There are over 262 million cell phone subscribers in the US today. On the average, cell phone users replace old units every 18 months – over 100 million units are discarded every year. About 20 percent of these old phones are recycled or sent back to manufacturers for proper disposal. What is alarming is that 10% of these obsolete phones are thrown away by users – that’s over 10 million cellular phones sent to rot and leach dangerous chemicals in our landfills.
Don’t throw away those cell phones
If you’re thinking of replacing your old cell phone with a new one, throwing it away should never be an option. Here’s why:
Cell phones and other electronic waste like TV sets, CRT monitors contain extremely toxic heavy metals and chemicals in batteries, circuit boards, and casing. Once landfilled, poisonous chemicals from mobile phones like lead, cadmium, mercury, polyvinyl chhloride (pvc),brominated flame retardants (BFRs), etc. can potentially contaminate nearby water sources and surrounding soil.
How dangerous are these chemicals and metals?
Lead
Lead, found in cellular phone batteries and old computer monitors, is a poisonous metal that can damage nervous connections (especially in young children) and cause blood and brain disorders. Long term exposure to lead or its salts (especially soluble salts or the strong oxidant PbO2) can result to complications like kidney damage, reduced IQ, slowed body growth, abdominal pain, and permanent mental damage.
According to Dr. Anne Marie Helmenstine, author and leading authority in biomedical sciences, lead has been found to cause development problems in children and diminishes brain functions even in adults. In a recent publication, Dr. Kim Dietrich from the University of Cincinnati, has associated lead exposure during childhood to deviant criminal behavior in adults. According to Dr.Dietrich’s report, their findings “implicate early exposure to lead as a risk factor for behaviors leading to criminal arrest.”
Compared to a TV set or an old CRT monitor, many of which can contain as much as 5 lbs. of lead, mobile phones contain only traces of this dangerous metal. However, because of the sheer number of cell phones that get dumped in landfills each year, the problem has increased exponentially – the 500 million cell phones now rotting in our landfills could potentially leak more than 300,000 lbs. of lead into the surrounding soil and water systems.
Mercury
Found in cellular phone batteries, mercury is a toxic chemical that affects the immune system, alters genetic and enzyme systems, and damages the nervous system, including coordination and the senses of touch, taste, and sight. Developing embryos – babies in their mothers’ wombs – are particularly vulnerable, being 5 to 10 times more sensitive to the effects of mercury than adults.
“Mercury in any form is toxic,” according to Dr. Barry M. Diner of Emory University. “Neurologic, gastrointestinal, and renal systems are the most commonly affected organ systems in mercury exposure.”
Cadmium
The US Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) has determined cadmium and cadmium compounds to be human carcinogens. Found in cellular phone batteries, exposure to cadmium can also lead to decrease in bone density, lung damage, and kidney problems.
Toxic Flame Retardants
Brominated Flame Retardants (BFR) and decabromodiphenyl ether (decaBDE) are among the most widely used chemicals in the electronics industry providing coating for cell phone casing, etc. Numerous studies have shown the adverse health and environmental impacts of these chemicals – being possible carcinogens and endocrine disruptors. EPA recently announced that beginning in 2013, the US will “will end production, use, and sales of the chemical in the United States.” Still, millions have cell phones coated with these chemicals are already out there, endangering everyone’s health.
Many of our municipal and city landfills today are engineered to prevent harmful chemicals generated by solid waste from spilling or reaching the surrounding areas and water systems. But no system is foolproof, and landfill chemicals will always have the lethal potential to contaminate our water and agricultural lands where food crops are grown. This year, The New York Times reported that 90% of all fish harvested in our lakes and rivers contain dangerous amounts of mercury. Where do you think does that come from?
Recycle cell phones
Clearly, the only viable option – if we want to protect the environment and our health – is to recycle cell phones. Mobile phone recycling will not only prevent those highly-toxic chemicals from ever reaching our landfills, it will make sure that useful metals found in cellular phones like gold, silver, coltan etc. are kept in the production stream. This lowers the demand for fresh raw material and decreases energy consumption and carbon emissions associated with producing or mining for new materials.
As the world now grapples with the environmental problems brought about by our excesses, we’re also gradually learning that there is really nothing that we do that does not affect the environment and – a little bit down the road – people. Those old phones that we’ve heedlessly thrown away will someday come back to haunt us through the food that we eat and the water that we drink.
The earth is not a receptacle for our cell phones and electronic waste, let’s recycle cell phones today.
Michael Arms writes about cell phone recycling and toxic chemicals and other topics at the Pacebutler Recycling and Environmental Blog. You can sell, recycle, or donate cell phones through Pacebutler Corporation, an Oklahoma-based cell phone refurbishing and trading company.
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