Cell phones have been around for decades, it sounds funny to read but it is true. Even before Zach Morris in Saved By The Bell, cell phones existed. Some of earliest cell phones can be traced to the 1970’s and were “car phones,” but nonetheless were mobile and on the go. Now cell phones have become known as smartphones, and it is hard pressed to find someone who doesn’t have the internet in their pocket, probably even your Grandma!
Whats The Value Of Scrapping Them?
The next logical question to any scrapper is, how much money can I get for old cell phones? Well, that is a great question. Cell phones have a lot of different values from refurbished to just being scrap. Think about what a current smartphone does, and the technology (not just the software that you see) that has to go into the phones to make them run.
There are not a lot of precious metals inside our phones today, but think about the power of the chips that run them. Think about fitting a laptops worth of information into something that could fit into your back pocket. Wouldn’t that have a lot of value? Well, gold, silver, platinum, lithium ion, and other good scrap values have been placed into those cell phones and that is why they are worth so much money after their intended life is over.
What Happens To The Gold In Cell Phones & Other Parts?
Many companies will buy your old cell phones (or ones that you find in scrap for anywhere from 3-100 times the scrap value of one), but sometimes the value is just scrap and it is useful to know where to sell them. Most scrap yards that buy electronic waste like Motherboards, hard drives, laptops, and computer towers will take the old smart phones, but you have to know where to go. On average it is going to take 3-5 cell phones to make one pound of scrap, so you will have to save a lot of them to really have the weight add up.
There is not much gold or other metals inside of a cell phone weight wise, so we suggest taking out the batteries and selling the old phones to your local scrap yard or e-waste recycler and they will be able to help you get an idea on what it is worth and how to prepare it correctly.
Source: Who what why: How much gold can we get from mobile phones? – BBC News
