Cell Phone Recycling And The Poison In Our Cell Phones

Cell Phone Recycling And The Poison In Our Cell Phones

There are over 262 million cell phone subscribers in the US today. On the average, cell phone users replace ancient units every 18 months - over 100 million units are bygone every year. About 20 percent of these mature phones are recycled or sent back to manufacturers for proper disposal. What is fatal is that 10 % of these disused phones are thrown away by users - that ' s over 10 million cellular phones sent to thoughtlessness and drain dangerous chemicals in our landfills.


Don ' t throw away those cell phones

If you ' re thinking of replacing your senile cell phone with a new one, throwing it away should never be an option. Here ' s why:

Cell phones and other electronic waste resembling TV sets, CRT monitors contain unduly toxic enormous metals and chemicals in batteries, circuit boards, and cardigan. Once landfilled, poisonous chemicals from moving phones close 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, constitute in cellular phone batteries and aged computer monitors, is a poisonous metal that can damage distressed connections ( especially in undisciplined children ) and engender blood and brain disorders. Long term exposure to lead or its salts ( especially soluble salts or the strong oxidant PbO2 ) can conclusion to complications matching kidney damage, reduced IQ, slowed body beefing up, abdominal pain, and surviving mental damage.

According to Dr. Anne Marie Helmenstine, author and leading authority in biomedical sciences, lead has been endow to cause development problems in children and diminishes brain functions even in adults. In a recent calendar, Dr. Kim Dietrich from the University of Cincinnati, has associated lead exposure during tender age to aberrant criminal behavior in adults. According to Dr. Dietrichs report, their findings implicate early exposure to lead as a risk plug in for behaviors leading to criminal arrest.

Compared to a TV set or an old CRT scanner, many of which can contain as much as 5 lbs. of lead, motile phones contain only traces of this dangerous metal. However, seeing of the especial number of cell phones that get dumped in landfills each year, the hot potato has massed exponentially - the 500 million cell phones now blighted 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 unsusceptible system, alters genetic and enzyme systems, and damages the wired system, including formulation and the reasonableness of touch, taste, and sight. Developing embryos - babies in their mothers ' wombs - are particularly tender, being 5 to 10 times more sensitive to the effects of mercury than adults.

" Mercury in any pattern 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 tenacious cadmium and cadmium compounds to be human carcinogens. Settle in cellular phone batteries, exposure to cadmium can also lead to deprivation in bone density, lung damage, and kidney problems.


Toxic Rapture Retardants

Brominated Piety 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 absent 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. " Civil, millions have cell phones coated with these chemicals are instant out there, endangering everyone ' s health.


Many of our municipal and region 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 supreme, and landfill chemicals will always have the lethal potential to harm our water and agricultural crown 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 workable option - if we want to protect the environment and our health - is to reuse cell phones. Animated phone recycling will not only prevent those highly - toxic chemicals from ever entrance our landfills, it will make consummate that useful metals start in cellular phones consonant gold, silver, coltan etc. are kept in the production flash. This lowers the demand for fresh raw material and decreases energy consumption and copy emissions associated with adequate 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 naught that we do that does not affect the environment and - a little bit down the road - people. Those senile phones that we ' ve heedlessly thrown away will conclusively come back to haunt us through the food that we eat and the water that we drink.

The earth is not a cistern for our cell phones and electronic waste, let ' s salvage cell phones today.