The NYTimes reports that numerous companies are offering cash for your old cell phones. Besides getting cash, or in some cases reward points, you also can save the environment.
Many of the sites take all phones – including clunky, brick-shaped dinosaurs – and simply recycle those that cannot be reused. Phones taken in that still have value are tested, outfitted with any needed accessories and then sold to dealers who resell them as refurbished phones in the United States or abroad. Some phones are donated to charities for use as emergency phones.
Even if cellphones sent in are not worth reselling, precious metals like gold from their circuit boards can be extracted and reused, said Rob Newton, president of OldCellPhone.
And by keeping used phones out of landfills, these potential money-making opportunities can also help the environment.
“It’s very important to remember that although each phone is small, they’re really a bundle of highly toxic materials,” because they include chemicals like arsenic, nickel, zinc and lead, said Joanna D. Underwood, president of Inform, a national environmental research organization.
The sites are:
RipMobile
Cell for Cash
Old Cellphone
Phone Fund
None of the sites are in Canada, I’m afraid.