News UN discusses electronics disposal

http://www.bit-tech.net/news/2008/06/24/un-discusses-electronics-disposal/1

Delegates from the United Nations are to meet in Indonesia this week to discuss the thorny problem of waste electronics - with the safe disposal of mobile 'phones top of the agenda.

 

Handsets never die!
Well, mine doesn't, at least.
I'm still using a 5-year old nokia something or other. It makes/receives calls and texts - that's all I need it to do.

 

well as with virtually everything i own, when its completly bricked its time for a new one. my mobiles ussually last at least 3 years

 

X2

However when it does get replaced, along with other electronis (unless its working usefull pc parts which id hand down to a friend) I genrally bring em into work where they have an electronics recycling system in place.
Allthough, how much of that ends up in a landfill I dont know.

 

i have only ever owned 3 mobile phones in about 10 years of using them...i admit i dont know what happened to my first, but my recently replaced second phone has gone on to a better life as my backup alarm clock, so technically still using it

 

I'm currently using a W800, which I have had since they first came out. It's around three years old, and I'll continue using it until it dies. It's been a great phone, and I'm one of those people who won't discard something just because it's no longer "up to date". I got it with my contract, and rather than upgrade the phone when the contract was up I negotiated a lower price for the same tariff. Personally, I don't understand why more people don't do this sort of thing, saving the environment and their money in the process. My previous phone was an ancient 3210, which I ran until it was dead then handed in to a recycling centre. These are the only two phones I've owned in the last 8 years.

 

i wish they woudl do something about zimbabwe as opposed to talking about this

 

@yakyb Agreed

 

i never throw away old electronics, i got bins and bins full of stuff I might maybe someday find a use for lol.

 

The first time I've ever seen phone preceded with an apostrophe, as if abbreviating telephone. Isn't the word cellular phone used in Europe?

 

I usually call it 'alarm clock' since that's all it does on a regular basis >.>

 

My sister calls her phone a cell in Canada and she looks at me funny whenever I go over and talk about my mobile ("mobil" to canadians )

 

@ johnmustrule

If what you said is true. You will be a very rich man!

Electronic devices have grams of gold inside. Once mulched, you can take this mulched mix of stuff to a certain place, (chem factory?) and ask for them throw the mulched electronic device into a vat of acid. Which in turn melts the plastic and lets the gold collect at the bottom. Then depending on how much you mulched, you can get some damn good money for those old electronics you kept.

Generally these place are recycling centers. But don't know if they are common, or exist in the UK.
My uncle did this once with two 64 gallon barrels of old switches, hubs, computer components, and got 12,000 dollars for the raw gold bar.

 

im on my second phone the first is disconnected and my lil sis uses it as a toy.