You probably have a collection of old phones lying useless in a drawer, but have you ever wondered where all this stuff ends up well that depends on how you get rid of it – these smartphones might end up in huge dumpsites as e-waste, leaching toxic chemicals into the soil and water, and lead to some dangerous consequences like environmental pollution and health hazards.

The smartphone makers launch more than a dozen models of new phones every year. In 2020, Apple released five new iPhones and Samsung released 15 new phones. Apple reportedly sold about 196.2 million iPhones, and Samsung sold about 296 million phones in 2019. And the old ones end up in the drawer or a closet or a box or worse end up in landfills.

Many people still wonder why they should dispose of their used phones, old laptops, and other electronic devices in an eco-friendly way. Well, a phone is much more than it appears to be on the surface. It takes over two hundred pounds of raw material to make a phone. These are one of the most environmentally destructive things that we make because of all the materials that go into them.

If your phone is beyond repair, think about a refurbished one. If there’s no hope for repair, recycle it. All of the arsenic, cadmium, lead, beryllium and other hazardous materials that are contained in these old phones should be kept out of landfills and should be kept out of rivers, and lakes. 

We’ve created a pretty big mess for ourselves when it comes to e-waste. The UN estimates a heap of e-waste could contain more than sixty-seven billion dollars worth of precious metals and while wealthy countries generate much of this waste developing nations are often left with the task of recycling it.

But the problem is, just as the production of smartphones comes with social and environmental problems, recycling them does too. E-waste is sometimes intentionally exported to countries where labor is cheap but working conditions are poor. 

Luckily, companies like iFixit offer tools, guides, and replacement parts for phones. But, very often it is cheaper to buy something new than to fix something old and so we find ourselves with two unfortunate situations, the first is the dangerous one.

If your old phone is not working properly, has scratches on the screen, or doesn’t match your requirements, you could donate it to a charity for reuse, or sell it online to raise cash by sending it to a company that refurbishes old smartphones. 

To help combat the e-waste you can sell or donate your old cell phones. You can maintain electronics properly so they last longer. You need to recycle and dispose of e-waste properly before buying a new electronic device, consider repurposing an old phone.

Why Disposing Of Old Phones In An Ecofriendly Way Is Important?

As of 2022, there are around 7.26 billion smartphone users in the world. If we broke open all their newest phones and split them into their component parts, that would produce around 85,000 kilograms of gold, 875,000 of silver, and 40 million kilograms of copper.

In fact, of the 17 types of rare-earth metals, phones, and other electronics may contain up to 16. In smartphones, these create the screen and color display, aid conductivity, and produce signature vibrations, amongst other things.

We also mine magnesium, lithium, silica, and potassium to make phones, and all of it is associated with vast habitat destruction, as well as air and water pollution. Extracting these elements from the earth is linked to some disturbing environmental impacts.

Most landfills leach into the ground when they’re rained upon. It’s that leaching process that eventually degrades our environment, ecosystem, vegetation, and animals and gets back into our human population. 

Much of the time, extracting these materials from earth requires a method called open-pit mining that exposes vast areas of land. This form of mining destroys huge swaths of natural habitats and causes air and water pollution, threatening the health of nearby communities.

Also, mining comes with worrying social problems, like large-scale human and animal displacement to make way for industrial operations, and frequently, poor working conditions for laborers. 

And, what’s more, the ingredients we mine to make our phones aren’t infinite. One day, they’ll simply run out, and we haven’t yet discovered effective replacements for some.

Despite this, smartphone production is on a steady rise, which means that reclaiming the bounty within our phones is swiftly becoming a necessity. So, if you have an old phone, you might want to consider your options before throwing it away.

How Selling An Old Phone Online Makes Your Environmentally Responsible?

Since we already have the know-how on how to responsibly recycle our old electronics, it would be very unfortunate if we don’t engage in that good socially and environmentally responsible behavior.

The best thing that we as consumers can do is fix the stuff we have and only buy exactly what we need and sell or donate our old phones, laptops, and other gadgets rather than throwing these in a landfill.

In this article, we are going to tell you how you can sell your cell phone online whether that be your need to upgrade it to another cell phone or if you just have an extra cell phone lying around you.

If you were just upgrading your phone or thinking of doing it then you’re probably gonna have one of these just sitting around you might even have them from years gone past the back of a drawer.

People who just want to sell their cell phone and really have no intention of making a business out of it per se and they just want to get some cash for the phone to do something with it – the best thing they can do with any phone is to sell it now. 

In general, Apple and Samsung both change their designs every year, in between, there’s a more powerful version of the same phone with better specs, a nicer camera, stuff like that. So the question comes down to: do you want the new flashy design right away? Or can you wait one year for the more powerful, more refined version of that same phone?

If you are upgrading after just a year then you can get a decent amount of cash but if you let the time pass, you will not get a fair deal for it after a couple of years. 

There are two ways by which you will sell your used phone online – by exchanging your old device with a new one on websites such as Amazon or by selling it to websites like CashMartIndia, Instamart, Cashify, etc. These different online marketplaces can help you sell your old mobile in just a couple of simple steps and some of these can help you in finding the best deal.

Amazon and Flipkart both have exchange offers on select mobile phones on their websites for exchanging your old device with a new one. But there are many conditions associated with these exchange programs, which might irritate you.

Your device should be perfectly working, should look good in physical condition, and the display should be intact – in short, your phone must be like a new one. Now the question is why would someone exchange it for a new one when his old phone is already perfect? 

And if you want to get a better value for your old phone on Amazon, you must have its valid bill, original box, headset, charger, and other accessories along with it. Even if you agree with all these conditions and you get a fair resale value for your phone, the thing is you were intended to get rid of your old phone in an environmentally safe way, not to exchange it and bring another phone into your home.

Then there are online marketplaces like Quikr and OLX, where you can sell or buy old stuff. In recent years, we have heard of many such incidents when a buyer or seller got duped for money or even physical assaults.

As you’re still involved in a person-to-person deal, there is a level of risk, and you need to ensure that you’re getting the device that you’re actually looking at or getting the same value you have been promised, that too via a secure payment method.

As all these marketplaces have their own pros and cons, we need to carefully assess whether you are getting the right deal and selling your old mobile in an environmentally-friendly way. 

So far, we have analyzed that selling an old phone via an online platform like CashMartIndia, InstaMart, or Cashify is the best and safest way. Since you are selling your phone via a safe channel, you need not worry about the payments or any kind of fraud, and most importantly these companies are known to handle old gadgets like used phones, tablets, old laptops, and accessories in an ecofriendly way.

You just need to visit one of these websites, select your phone model, specify its physical conditions and mention a few details about your old mobile. Then an AI-based algorithm assesses the resale value of your phone and offers you a quote.

If you are OK with the quoted price, you can schedule a time for pick up. An authorized executive from the company will arrive at your doorstep to pick up the device and will transfer the money into your bank account.

This simple method to sell your old mobile is completely safe. Since you are selling your phone online, you need not risk yourself wandering the shady streets looking for buyers. The payment is credited into your account, and you know the quoted price beforehand, so there is no chance of any fraud. 

Also, these companies ensure you get rid of your old phone in an environmentally responsible way. Once the devices are received, all of the data is destroyed, and items are tested for functionality, repaired, refurbished, or recycled through a proper channel.

All of these phones go to beneficial reuse, like being made into new products and none go into landfills. The phones collected by these companies are either refurbished or sold to other users at lower prices or donated to charities where underprivileged students can make better use of your useless piece of e-waste.