With new cell phones hitting the market every day, our gadgets are becoming obsolete sooner rather than later and this leads to the problem of disposing them. An effective solution is that most of our cell phone parts can be recycled and thus many major companies are running plants to recycle old cell phones. Nearly 80 percent of the materials in a typical cell phone can be recycled, according to the GSM Association, a worldwide mobile communications industry organization. Most of our cell phones are manufactured in eastern Asia, where manufacturing is cheap owing to cheap labor and technology, and during these manufacturing processes, environmental Aspects are not prioritized. A shift in this trend has come with the rise in environment conscious users. People these days are inquisitive about the carbon footprint of the device they are using and also negative press release about neglect of environment during manufacturing has began to show significant impact on Sales figures. This demand for eco friendly smart phones has lead to many manufactures making a shift towards greener technology. A new report by Juniper Research states that 392 million “green” handsets, or those with at least 50 percent recycled content, will be shipped by 2017. Also there are various Apps like the GreenGlobe App which will further help us to be more aware about environmental impacts of our devices. Major environmental pollutants present in your phone come from your battery. Many cell phone batteries have lithium and magnesium which is harmful to the environment. Many manufactures have recognized this and many researchers are inventing efficient technology to improve battery life. Reportedly, researchers at Northwestern University have also created an electrode for lithium-ion batteries that can extend battery lives by 10 times after only charging them for one-tenth of the time it typically takes now, thus leading to magnificently enhanced battery backup and battery life. Also apart from batteries companies are more cautious about the kind of packing material they use. If you are concerned about the impacts your cell phone has on environment, next time upgrade to a more eco friendly device and send your old phone to a recycling facility or pass it on to another user. Various websites like http://www.greenpeace.org rate mobile devices according to their eco friendly nature, after considering the entire manufacturing process. There are various environment friendly products available these days like Sony Xperia P and LG optimus pro G. various Indian manufacturers are also taking interest in going green.Cell phone towers in India consumes up to 2 billion liters of diesel every year, which has serious degrading impact on environment, efforts are in process to switch most of the cell phone towers to greener fuels.
