A quote that is sometimes said is "Ashes to ashes, dust to dust". This is DEFINITELY not true for cellphones. Every time a cellphone is thrown out, a number of toxins are released into the environment such as arsenic, antimony, beryllium, cadmium and lead. These toxins are very bad for you and the environment. Some of these toxins can even be directly linked to many health problems and diseases such as cancer, neurological disorders, damage to the nervous system, and developmental problems.
Have you ever thrown out a cellphone before? A lot of people do, usually because they either broke it, or because they have found a better, newer cellphone that they would rather have. This is a huge problem. When people do go to get rid of their phones, they have the choice of recycling it or sending it to a landfill. In a landfill, toxic substances get in the soil, water and air.
Did you know:
- The average customer only uses their phone for 1 year? In this year, 4, 221 megajoules of energy are used, the equvilent of 32 gallons of gasoline.
- For every 515 cellphones recycled enough energy is saved to power a house for a year.
- 100, 000, 000 cellphones are replaced each year, most of which are sent to landfills because people don't realize all of the dangerous chemicals they contain.
- 61% of people have cellphones, which means that there are about 4.1 billion cellphones in the world.
Now that you know why cellphones are bad for the environment, here are some tips on what you can do.
Don't throw out your cellphones. There are many places that will take them, give them to charity, or take them apart and reuse the valuable parts inside of the cellphones. Some of these places you can take your phone are: The Body Shop, Best Buy, and Value Village. You can also call 1 - 800 - 505 - 5525 for locations near you.
Every single person makes a difference. So what if your just a kid? You can make a huge impact on the earth just by telling everyone around you to recycle their phones, and doing the same. If every single person makes this small change to their lifestyle, imagine the worldwide effect it would have!
By Jenny (some of this information is from our cellphone project that I did with Emilie V.)
Great job Jenny! I really liked how you started this post! I had know idea that The Body Shop, Best Buy, and Value Village all took in cellphones! I'm definitely going to recycle my cellphones from now on, and I try my best to get people around me to do the same. :p
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