One of the more immediate effects of the CDMA network shut down is an increase in recycled cell phones. Statistics say that the number of recycled cell phones has doubled since the network shut down started. That’s quite a jump.
Australia has a recycling program called the Australian Mobile Telecommunications Association Mobile Muster Take Back Program. That’s quite a mouthful for a program encouraging Aussies to go green by turning in their cell phones and cell phone accessories instead of dumping them in the landfill.
Cell phones submitted to the program are taken to facilities like that run by Will LeMessurier. Once there they are dismantled completely. Once disassembled, only the lowest valued components or the least able to be reused or recycled are sent to landfill. The rest find new homes, circuit boards being the most valuable piece of an old cell phone because they have small amounts of gold that can be extracted.
Before the CDMA network closure process began, as many as 640,000 cell phones a year were simply tossed. This meant that 640,000 cell phones and all of their various potentially hazardous components like batteries were leaching into Australia’s landfills. The more cell phones and accessories that can be recycled, the better it is for a greener Australia.
