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Recycling Your Old Gadgets For New Ones

In this day and age it seems like new technology is being developed everyday. And with new technology comes advancements in electronics, such as cell phones and laptops. Considering that many people like to have top of the line gadgets, one can only imagine how many "old" cellular phones are disposted of every year. Last year, according to the Consumer Electronics Association, U.S. consumers purchased some 104 million cell phones for a total of $13.5 billion. Over the next 18 months those cell phones, all 104 million, will be retired. CTIA - The Wireless Association puts the total number of U.S. cell phone users over 200 million. The industry estimates that the average U.S. wireless user upgrades their old cell phone every 18 months.

That means consumers purchase 11 million new cell phones every month. That?s a lot of cell phones. But what makes those numbers even more dramatic is that many of those fancy new cell phones will be replacing older model phones ? phones that work fine but don?t have all the bells and whistles of the shiny new models. So what happens to all those old-model cell phones, anyway? James Mosieur, chief executive officer of RMS Communications Group Inc., hopes they find their way into his mailbox. RMS is one of the nation?s leading recycler and re-marketer of old cell phones. The company actually pays cash to people who sell their old phones to RMS via their website.

Surveys suggest that less than 10% of U.S. consumers dispose of their old cell phones either by selling them or through other recycling methods. This leaves over 10 million cell phones to pile up every month in the homes of America. The growing problem has caught the attention of lawmakers across the country. Several states are considering legislation mandating cell phone recycling. California is the first state to pass such a law. Beginning this July it will be unlawful for a retailer to sell a cell phone in the State of California unless they have a comprehensive recycling program in place.