The Best Ways to Recycle Your Old Cell Phones and Tablets

Cell phones and tablets are among the most densely packed electronic devices, containing copper, gold, silver, palladium, rare earth elements, and lithium batteries all in a compact form factor. They also contain some of the most sensitive personal data of any device: photos, messages, emails, passwords, banking apps, and location histories. Recycling them properly requires addressing both the material and the data simultaneously.

Data destruction for mobile devices may require more than a factory reset. Forensic recovery tools may extract data from some reset phones. Secure data destruction options include physical shredding or a documented software wipe appropriate to the device, with records of the method used. Businesses subject to HIPAA, PCI DSS, or similar frameworks should determine their own requirements and request serialized destruction records for decommissioned mobile devices.

For material recycling, mobile devices contain enough gold and other precious metals to make their recovery economically worthwhile at scale. Ask recyclers how documented processes route mobile device circuit boards to precious metal refiners who recover gold, silver, and palladium through smelting and hydrometallurgical processes. Lithium batteries are routed to specialized battery recyclers who recover lithium, cobalt, and nickel. Contact Chicago Lamp Recycling at 866-770-2650 to discuss mobile device recycling and data destruction for your business.