Turn Junk Phones into Cash  E-mail
Written by Hank Green   
Wednesday, 18 July 2007


There are hundreds of millions of unused cell phones sitting in junk drawers and glove compartments in America alone. It's sill, they're very fancy, expensive pieces of machinery and when Verizon says "oh, sorry, your old phone won't work with our new plan," all you can say is "Well, fine...but just so you know, I hate you and you're destroying the Earth."

But now there's at least half a solution. CellforCash.com will buy your old unused cell phones from you, as long as you don't wait too long for them to go completely obsolete. Even then, however, they'll recycle your old phone for free.

Just use their search tool, find your phone, enter your address and they send you a box and shipping materials. Once you send your phone to them, they'll send you a check for anything from $5 to well over $100. My LG VX9800 is worth $52. Though, I'm definitely still using it...so no trade-in for me just yet.

You get the best value out of your phone right after you finish with it, so don't let that technology rot, capture the value of your old phone! 

Keep reading after the break for some great stats on cell phone disposal.
  • CellForCash.com went live in November 2002.
  • We pay out over $1 million annually to CellForCash.com customers.
  • We average over 400,000 unique visitors each month.
  • We have recycled over 250,000 cell phones since our inception.
  • Since 2002 we have been interviewed by the media over 60 times.
  • We won a prestigious Webby Award in 2005.
  • We buy back over 600 cell phone models.
  • Our average cell phone payment price is over $25
  • We have facilitated the donation of over $400,000 and 30,000 cell phones to charities and non-profits nationwide.
  • There are approximately 230 million wireless users in the US and over 2 billion worldwide.
  • The average wireless user retires their old cell phone every 18 months.
  • Over 70% of Americans do not know that they can recycle their old cell phone.
  • Only 2.3% of Americans recycle their old cell phones and 7% throw them in the garbage.
  • Surveys suggest that 90% of Americans would recycle their cell phone if there was a convenient way to do it.
  • Cell phones, unlike TVs, have a positive scrap value meaning the value of cell phone reuse is currently sufficient to finance the collection and recycling infrastructure.

Comments (4)add
Unlocked Phones
written by Rob , July 19, 2007
Does anyone know where you can buy simple (unlocked) 2nd hand/recycled phones? on the web or at a physical store?

Cheers ;-)
Ebay
written by Holt , July 19, 2007
I'm pretty sure you could get them on Ebay. I dunno where the phones bought by the article company get taken.
chea
written by kate , July 21, 2007
smilies/grin.gif yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
Recycling on the high street
written by Nick , September 22, 2007
Some service providers are now providing recycling schemes at high street stores. This makes it much more accessible for people and limits some of the rather pathetic and lazy excuses people have for throwing their own mobile phones away or hauding them in the loft.
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Hank Green
About the author:

Hank Green is the founder and chief geek at EcoGeek.org. Aside from being obsessed with saving the planet with technology, he loves to write and make videos. If you want to find out more about him, visit hankgreen.com
 
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