Effects of Cell Phones on the Environment

Over 800 million people worldwide own a cell phone, and many of those people buy new phones every few years. When you incorrectly dispose of your cell phone, you could be harming the environment. Proper disposal means finding a facility that is familiar with cell phone recycling and disposal. Improper disposal means throwing the phone in a trashcan destined for the landfill. 

Some of the parts in a cell phone can cause serious environmental harm. Cell phones contain chemicals that never biodegrade. Some of the chemicals even become increasingly more toxic over time. When disposed of in a landfill or thrown in a garbage pile, these chemicals can began to leak from the phone and enter the soil and drinking water. 

Because of the toxicity of cell phones, governments- including federal, state and local- have laws that dictate how cell phones should be disposed. Most of the time this means you need to seek out a disposal facility. 

One of those chemicals is cadmium, which is present in phones. Cadmium is a cancer-causing agent. Even at low doses, cadmium is extremely dangerous. Other chemicals include lead, which is known to damage the kidneys in both adults and children. 

One way of properly disposing of cell phones is to recycle them. You can give the cell phone to a recycling company to refurbish and give to someone in need. Sometimes parts of your phone will be attached to parts of another phone to create a working model in good shape. 

When you incorrectly dispose of your cell phone, you are poisoning the environment. Cell phones contain substances that can leak and cause health problems for humans and toxicity of land and water.