Friday, 29th June 2007 (4284 views)

A number of precious metals, including gold, can be recycled from old mobile phones, it has been reported.

The Star Tribune reveals that unwanted mobile phones are often stripped down and their valuable components reused.

Material Processing Corporation is reportedly trying to educate people against throwing their unwanted mobiles out and instead recycling them – noting that there are 750 million dormant phones in the US, the newspaper reports.

"You can't grow more gold; you can't grow more precious metals, it's either got to come back into the system or it disappears. If not, those tiny 18-carat earrings you once paid $59 for are going to cost $1,000," commented David Kutoff, president of the company.

He noted that 130 million phones per year are thrown in the waste instead of being recycled, while the Star Tribune claims that a US geological survey revealed that if all the disused mobiles in the US were gathered together the precious metals contained in them would amount to $340 million.

Furthermore, the newspaper claims that if all the phones discarded in one year were recycled it would equate to the recovery of 182,000 ounces of gold valued at $100.5 million.

 

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