We'd all be lost without our phones. Turns out, they're lost without us, too. There's somewhere in the region of 55 million unused phones sitting in drawers up and down the UK, gathering dust and waiting to be given a new lease of life.
Up to 80% of a phone is recyclable - and in ways that you might not have thought of. While you might think of your phone as a mix of plastic, metal and glass, there's plenty of valuable stuff in there: for example, did you know that your phone has gold in it?
Alright, the second bit was obvious, but as some of the Olympic medals for next year's Tokyo Games are made from recycled gold, some of which comes from old phones, your knackered handset could become an Olympic gold medal. From your old phone in a drawer to the biggest stage in the world of sports: it's a comeback that any Olympian would be proud of.
It's not just gold medals, either. Parts from your old phone can be turned into just about anything that involves glass, aluminium and copper - so when you see a sign that says "made from recycled glass", there's a high chance that someone previously played Candy Crush on it. It's not as sexy as an Olympic Gold Medal, for sure, but on balance, you're more likely to see some recycled glass than Dina Asher-Smith walking down the street with her medal on. There's also plenty of silver in your old phone, too, so if you're looking for something that is worse than an Olympic Gold Medal but better than a recycled can, then guess what: they make Olympic Silver Medals from recycled phones too.
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With all this in mind, you might be wondering how you can get involved. Well, giffgaff are here to help. They're offering to take your old phone off you and it and send it back out into the world in a new form - and they'll give you some cash for it as well.
Simply send your OLD phone to giffgaff and they'll do their best to refurbish it: and if they can, you'll get cash back on it. If they can't bring it back to life, they'll let you know where you can recycle it and you're still doing a good deed, as you're helping to keep your phone out of a landfill site. On top of that, you can choose to donate any of the cash value of your phone to the Neighbourly Foundation to support grassroots causes.
If your old phone just goes in the bin, it invariably ends up in landfill. That means that it isn't recycled, which is (obviously) bad, but also means that there is the potential for toxic chemicals to pollute seas, rivers and potentially harm animals.
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Instead, a refurbished or recycled phone could end up anywhere. There's the prosaic option - your phone remains a phone, but finds a new home - or it could end up as something completely different, like the aforementioned Olympic gold medal. So check your drawers - if you have old handsets lying around, you could refurbish them for cash with giffgaff or recycle them and give them and do something good for the planet.
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