Thursday, June 09, 2011

Recycling Cell Phones

What products can be made from the materials recovered by recycling cell phones?Almost all of the materials used to manufacture a cell phone can be recovered to make new products. Metals, plastics, batteries and the packaging materials can be recycled and turned into new products.


Cell phones contain a number of different metals - gold, silver,platinum,palladium, rhodium,copper, tin, lead, brass and zinc - that can be extracted and recovered in the recycling process.


The recovered metals can be used by a number of different industries such as jewelry, plating, electronics, plumbing, automotive, and art foundries. Products that can be manufactured from the recovered materials include automotive catalytic converters,plumbing faucets and piping, and gold or silver jewelry.


The plastic on the cell phone can also be recycled. It can be recycled into new products as garden furniture, license plate frames, non-food containers and replacement automotive parts.


Due to its high thermal value, the plastic could alternatively be used as a fuel.The cell phone packaging materials can also be recycled and made as a component of fiber board manufacture. When the rechargeable battery can no longer be reused, the battery can be recycled into other rechargeable battery products.

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