The mobile phone has become one of the most common, everyday items in the world. Most people don’t leave home without it and feel almost naked and helpless without the feel of their phone in their pocket. Little do they know that the little device that is in their pocket has become one of the bigger threats to the environment. One of the reasons why is that technology changes rapidly, which encourages people to replace it, meaning that there are literally hundreds of millions of unused phones sitting in drawers around the world, many of which end up finding their way into landfills. This is a serious issue; as mobile phone batteries can leak harmful chemicals into the soil that eventually end up contaminating water supplies.
The severity of this issue has caused many manufacturers of mobile phones to re-think the way that they are doing business. Not only are companies offering schemes which aim to increase recycling rates, they also are making phones that are increasingly friendlier to the environment, using recycled parts and batteries that do not contain corrosive materials. However some mobile phone companies are saying that if recycling rates do not increase that it will be difficult for them to mass produce green phones because there simply won’t be enough parts.
Making plastic for the casings of phones takes energy and also adds new non-biodegradable rubbish into the environment. This is why it is so important to recycle phones, without the plastic parts that can be re-used in green phones, there is no way for mobile phone companies to mass produce green phones without adding more plastic to the ecosystem.
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