With the accelerating pace of mobile phone upgrades, people are replacing their phones more frequently, and mobile phones have become an indispensable part of people's lives. "Mobile phone addiction" brings people pleasure and convenience, but it also brings a large number of discarded mobile phones. According to a report from Qihoo 360 last year, about 50% of users replace their phones every 18 months, and 20% of users must replace their phones within a year. So the question is, what should be done with the discarded mobile phones?

The phenomenon of idle discarded mobile phones is widespread.

Ms. Liao, a citizen, recently encountered this kind of trouble. "When cleaning, I found the discarded mobile phones and chargers at home, piled up a whole drawer. They take up space at home, and I feel it's a waste to throw them away. I really don't know what to do?" Ms. Liao said helplessly.

Similarly, citizen Xiao Chen said that in the year and a half since graduating from university and starting work, he has already bought four mobile phones. "I don't pursue new mobile phones, I only replace them when they break, which is considered making the most of them. But I seem to be a 'mobile phone killer', and a mobile phone will break in less than half a year. It's better to buy a new one than to get it repaired, so the old mobile phones accumulate more and more."

When asked how to deal with these idle mobile phones, Xiao Chen said that he hadn't considered how to deal with them yet. "Actually, keeping them has an advantage, just in case the phone I'm currently using suddenly breaks down, I can find a backup. Usually, they are piled up in the cupboard, and they can't be sold for much money." Xiao Chen said that if you include the old mobile phones used by his parents, there are nearly ten discarded mobile phones piled up at home.

The survey found that citizens' homes will have one or more unused old mobile phones. Mr. Zhang, a citizen, said that from the early popular Motorola and Nokia, to domestic Coolpad and Huawei, and then to the currently popular Apple and Samsung, he has used them all. The discarded mobile phones that can still be used are usually given to the elderly relatives at home, and those that cannot be used are left at home. Some of them don't even know where they are thrown. "There is too much information in smart phones, and I dare not throw them away casually when they are broken, in case they are picked up and repaired by experts, and my information will be leaked." Mr. Zhang said worriedly.

According to the survey data from China News Service IT Channel, 53.6% of netizens will leave their mobile phones at home without processing them, 16.1% will choose to give them away, and the netizens who choose to trade in, sell to the second-hand market, and throw them away directly are 5.4%, 8.9%, and 7.1% respectively. According to data from the Digital 100 Research Company, 68.2% of netizens will leave their mobile phones at home, and 20.8% of netizens will give them away directly. In the interview, it was also found that there are three main reasons why most citizens store discarded mobile phones: the recycling price is too low, there is a lack of recycling channels, and they are worried about personal privacy leakage after mobile phone recycling. Of course, a few citizens will throw their discarded mobile phones into the trash can with other household garbage.

Emerging recycling channels are little known.

So, what channels are there if you want to sell your old mobile phone?
It is understood that many mobile phone stores in Lanzhou are doing mobile phone recycling business. After consultation, it was found that many shop owners showed great interest in high-end smart phones, but they shook their heads at feature phones and low-end smart phones. "High-end mobile phones can be put back into the market after refurbishment, with high profits, while those ordinary discarded mobile phones have high recycling costs and little room for reuse. Currently, second-hand Apple mobile phones still have considerable market recycling value." A mobile phone store owner revealed.

"We are also helpless. Only some mobile phone manufacturers are willing to recycle the mobile phones they produce. As merchants, we don't have a "digestion" channel, so we can only stimulate consumers to buy new products through trade-ins." Another mobile phone store owner said that trade-ins are actually a psychological comfort for consumers, which can offset a small part of the price, and the purpose is still to promote new mobile phones. However, the store owner said that if you just want to sell your mobile phone and don't consider the price, you can sell your outdated discarded mobile phone to those mobile phone recyclers.

I also learned about the recycling price of second-hand mobile phones from street vendors. However, what is quite unexpected is that compared to physical stores that prefer high-end mobile phones, street vendors prefer feature phones and scrapped mobile phones, and the recycling price is only ten or twenty yuan. It is understood that they will resell the recycled discarded mobile phones to other places. In addition to extracting precious metals such as gold and silver, they can also recycle various resources such as copper, tin, palladium, and plastic.

With the development of C2C, consumers can now directly sell their mobile phones to individuals through the Internet, such as on second-hand trading platforms like 58, Ganji, and Xianyu, where a large number of second-hand mobile phones are bought and sold every day. The process is simple. The seller only needs to post sales information on the platform and leave contact information. This information is public. The buyer only needs to contact the seller according to the contact information to conduct the transaction. However, it was found that in the transaction process between the two parties, the value of these platforms is only a tool and cannot guarantee the interests of both parties, let alone provide after-sales service for second-hand mobile phones. "To a certain extent, this increases the purchase risk for consumers and is difficult to activate the market." An industry insider commented.

Nowadays, many online platforms for purchasing second-hand mobile phones have also entered the market, and the recycling model is also relatively simple. The seller only needs to log in to the online platform, enter their mobile phone model, and then enter a survey page about the mobile phone usage. After that, the system will give an estimated price for the mobile phone. If the estimated price is accepted, the seller only needs to send the mobile phone to the designated address. After the other party checks and is satisfied, the recycling payment will be transferred to the seller's Alipay or UnionPay account. However, this mobile phone recycling method, which is considered by the industry to be the "most reasonable business model," is known to very few people. According to the survey data from China News Service IT Channel, nearly 30% of netizens only know about Apple's "trade-in" program, and the netizens who know about 360 mobile phone recycling, JD mobile phone recycling, and Ludashi mobile phone recycling are 7%, 9.9%, and 5.6% respectively. The number of people who know about other mobile phone channels is even smaller. In addition, according to data from the Digital 100 Research Company, more than 60% of netizens know about Apple's "trade-in," 37.9% of netizens know about 360 mobile phone recycling, and 12.2% of netizens know about Lehui.

The mobile phone recycling and processing system urgently needs improvement.

China implemented the "Law on the Prevention and Control of Environmental Pollution by Solid Waste" in April 2005, the "Administrative Measures for Pollution Control of Electronic Information Products" in March 2007, and the "Regulations on the Recycling and Treatment of Waste Electronic Products" on January 1, 2011, and promulgated the "Catalogue of Waste Electrical and Electronic Products for Treatment", which made relevant regulations on the recycling and treatment of waste household appliances such as old televisions, refrigerators, washing machines, air conditioners, and computers. However, these regulations do not make any relevant regulations on the recycling and treatment of discarded mobile phones.

So, how much harm does a discarded mobile phone battery do? Professionals say that the pollution from one discarded mobile phone battery is equivalent to that of 100 ordinary dry-cell batteries. The pollution caused is equivalent to the area of three Olympic-standard swimming pools. The pollution capacity of 1,000 mobile phone batteries is comparable to that of a small paper mill. Cadmium pollution is a type of heavy metal pollution that cannot be degraded in nature and can only migrate. Once water or soil is polluted, the water or soil cannot exert its self-purification function to eliminate the pollution, and heavy metals are easily accumulated in organisms. For humans, the clinical manifestations of chronic cadmium poisoning include pulmonary emphysema, bone changes, anemia, etc., and long-term consumption of water and food contaminated with cadmium can lead to Itai-itai disease. After cadmium enters the human body, it causes bone softening, bone deformation, and in severe cases, spontaneous fractures, leading to death. In addition to cadmium, the copper, aluminum, plastic, electrolyte, and other non-ferrous metals in chargers and lithium batteries will also cause great damage to the environment.

Currently, mobile phone batteries mainly include three types: nickel-cadmium batteries, nickel-metal hydride batteries, and lithium-ion batteries. All three types of batteries contain the heavy metal cadmium. Cadmium is explicitly listed as a toxic and harmful substance or element in China's "Management Measures for Pollution Control of Electronic Information Products." In addition, these batteries also contain heavy metals such as mercury and lead.

In fact, regarding the disposal of discarded mobile phones, many experts suggest that it is best for professional mobile phone manufacturers to directly recycle them. This is beneficial for the recycling of materials such as metals and plastics and helps protect the information security of the original user.
In addition, Wang Yanghui, secretary-general of the China Mobile Phone Alliance, believes that in dealing with discarded mobile phones, on the one hand, the development of relevant enterprises should be promoted, and on the other hand, supervision should be in place. "In addition to supervision in terms of information security, environmental protection should also be considered. The processing of discarded mobile phones should also be included within the scope of the "Regulations on the Recycling and Treatment of Waste Electrical and Electronic Products."

Handwritten Notes
Recycling cannot rely solely on public awareness
Public data shows that about 100 million mobile phones are discarded in China each year, with a recycling rate of less than 1%. Tang Aijun, secretary-general of the Electronic Waste Recycling and Treatment Branch of the China Association of Recycling Resources, said that after processing and refining, 6,700 discarded mobile phones can produce 700 to 1,400 grams of gold. It can be said that discarded mobile phones are a huge resource pool.

However, the reality is that most recycled mobile phones are classified, processed, refurbished, and then flow into the second-hand market, being resold to consumers; mobile phones that cannot be directly used are simply disassembled, with some usable parts reused, while others are discarded as garbage; completely unusable ones are directly incinerated as garbage.

Some believe that a major reason for this situation is the lack of public awareness regarding the recycling of discarded mobile phones. However, this is not entirely true. For example, the public welfare activity launched last year by Lanzhou Bank to exchange discarded batteries for mineral water was very successful. One discarded battery could be exchanged for one bottle of mineral water, with a daily limit of 24 bottles per person, and exchanges could be made at bank branches. According to an insider, in just a few dozen days, 44 tons of discarded batteries were collected, including mobile phone batteries, which were uniformly handed over to the Gansu Provincial Hazardous Waste Disposal Center under the environmental protection department for recycling and processing. This activity will continue for five years, and it is said that many citizens have already started consciously saving old batteries. This shows that the public is not without awareness of recycling, but there is too little effective guidance in society.

This is best reflected in the garbage sorting behavior in daily life. We can see various garbage bins for recyclable waste on the streets of Lanzhou, but the garbage bins in our residential buildings are never sorted, and the community has never provided guidance on garbage sorting to residents. However, even if these measures were taken, they might still be in vain, because our ultimate method of garbage disposal is still the crude method of landfill and incineration. Therefore, it is clear who is mainly responsible for the lack of recycling.

Although the government has become aware of the harm of e-waste in recent years and has actively taken relevant actions, there are serious shortcomings in the specific policy implementation, supervision and management, and auxiliary support. Most importantly, the main entities responsible for the recycling of discarded mobile phones include mobile phone manufacturers, telecommunications operators, mobile phone retailers, second-hand mobile phone dealers, mobile phone dismantlers, and consumers. However, there are currently no clear regulations on legal responsibilities, economic responsibilities, and corresponding rights and obligations in the mobile phone recycling process. The unclear responsibility of the main entities has led to a significant lack of order in the mobile phone recycling process.
It is not difficult to imagine that the lack of policies makes it impossible to effectively coordinate the rights, responsibilities, and obligations of various entities in the mobile phone recycling industry. At the same time, the insufficient policy support has made it difficult for formal mobile phone recycling and processing enterprises to develop, making it difficult to form a large-scale recycling and processing system.

Therefore, the government must take the initiative and introduce corresponding measures. If there are corresponding regulations and some basic compensation is provided to consumers, mobile phone recycling is actually not difficult. This is a matter of habit, and it is also a requirement for the relevant departments to introduce necessary measures. Relying solely on the public's own awareness is unrealistic and demanding.