Mobile Phone Disposal

[maggiebee]

Having a bit of a clear out and have 4 old mobile phones. Don't want to sell them but think that some charities may be interested. Has anyone donated a mobile and if so how easy was it to do. Do you post them, hand them in or ??

[youngmafbog]

I had a load of old ones at a company I upgraded them. No one wanted to know with the old ones. The problem is many will be locked to a network and, unless you know how, most will cost a fair bit to unlock. Although no one wanted even the unlocked ones we had.

[Lie-in King]

I haven't read this thoroughly, but some info here -

https://tinyurl.com/2tvbdpmz

[Buenchico]

The London-based children's charity, Little Lives UK, can recycle phones to make money for their projects. You can print out a postage-paid label from their website:
https://www.littlelives.org.uk/donate/donate-phone-tablet-charity/

On the High Street, try Oxfam or Scope shops, as those charities are listed on many websites as accepting mobile phones.

[Buenchico]

It's not simply about re-using old phones, Youngmafbog. They contain quantities of valuable rare metals, which can be reclaimed by specialist recycling companies (who pay charities to send them the phones).

[maggiebee]

Thanks for the advice folks. Phoned my local Oxfam shop and they take old mobiles for recycling so off to hand them over.

[Tilly2]

Do you need to do a factory reset before handing them over, Maggie?

[maggiebee]

Don't think so Tilly, I just deleted everything and removed the SIM card.