There are many toxic chemicals and elements used in the manufacture of a mobile phone including Arsenic, Beryllium, Cadmium, Mercury and Lead. With the sheer volume of mobile phones that are being discarded on an annual basis the amounts of these chemicals leeching into the environment from landfill sites is thought to be considerable. These chemicals can be reclaimed safely from mobile phones and re-used if they are handled properly or the phone itself can be re-used if it is still in working order.

In recent years various companies have appeared offering mobile phone recycling or re-use services. These companies offer a small cash sum for your old mobile phone, which varies depending on the model and whether the phone can be re-used or re-cycled. This prevents the phone from ending up in a landfill site and offers the consumer an incentive to recycle their phone. It is certainly something worth considering the next time you are offered an upgrade.

This is a service that also has a variety of options available for how the customer can receive payment. You can receive a cheque in the post; payment by BACS into your bank account, payment by PayPal, or you may elect to receive payment in Argos vouchers instead. If you are not seeking payment for yourself, you can also choose to donate the funds to a charity of your choice or for carbon offsetting. Envirofone will also accept a broken or damaged mobile phone for repair or recycling.

The first step in selling your mobile phone to Envirofone is to check on their website for the make and model that you wish to dispose of. Once you have located your mobile on their list the website will give an indication of how much they will be willing to pay you for your unwanted phone. If you are happy with the quote that you have been given, you can then proceed to conclude a deal with them. You will have to input your personal details and the company will then send you a padded envelope with a freepost returns label to send the phone to them. On receipt of your phone, as long as it meets their terms and conditions, Envirofone will send your payment by your chosen method.

The most common way to get paid when selling your mobile phone online is by cheque. This is perhaps the easiest and most convenient mode of payment. You can then just pay the cheque into your bank account. If you have a bank account, then you can choose this payment option right away.

Another payment option is through direct bank transfer (BACS) payment directly into your bank account. This means that if you choose this option, you have to provide your bank details using a secure process online. This is probably the fastest way to receive the payment for your phone.

Paypal is another payment option. Paypal is a secure online payment merchant similar to an online bank that plays the role of middlemen in most online transactions. Paypal money can be redirected to almost every bank in the world or added to your credit card.

Two other payment modes include the online payment processor Alertpay, and Vouchers or Gift Cards.

While the program sounds very good, not everyone is convinced that Envirofone is the best option.  There are some random reports of trouble receiving the fully quoted price for an old mobile, as well as delays in payments.  While many of these payment delays have involved the post, there is the occasional rumbling about electronic payments taking an inordinate amount of time to process.

Alternatively, other consumers have been extremely happy with the amount offered for their older mobiles, and have experienced no delays at all in receiving the promised payment.   Many of these customers are happy to recommend Envirofone to any of their friends who want to look into selling mobile phones and making a little money for the effort.

So is Envirofone a scam? It appears not, since a number of customers have been compensated and are quite happy with the way the company treated them.  Chances are that the mobile phone recycler needs to sort out a few issues internally that have led to unnecessary delays, miscommunications on prices quoted to customers, and other issues.  As with any business opportunity, make it a point to check out Envirofone in detail before deciding it is the firm you wish to do business with.

First, contact different businesses that pay cash for mobiles.  Ask them for any guidelines regarding the make and model of mobiles they accept, and what they pay per unit.  Also determine if you must deliver the collected phones, or if the business will arrange to pick them up.  Go with the business that provides the best offer all around, and then set the dates for your phone recycle project.

Contact local media about your project to recycle mobile phones as a fundraiser for your organisation.  Many radio stations and local newspapers are happy to support worthy efforts of this nature.  By spreading the word, you can reach the wider community and possibly increase the number of phones collected.

Also contact local businesses and ask for their support.  You may come across a company that is about to switch providers or upgrade to new phones anyway.  Making the donation to your collection will be good publicity, and it will allow them to dispose of the older mobiles they no longer need or want.

With proper planning, your phone recycling effort will pay off in more ways than one.  Along with generating money that your association can put to good use, you also increase the visibility of your organisation and give people the chance to clear out those old phones collecting dust in a drawer somewhere.  

Some of the shops which vouchers are commonly issued for include Boots, Argos, Debenhams and Marks and Spencer. According to research you are actually likely to receive about ten percent more for your old phone if you choose to be paid in this way. If you have quite a few old phones lying about at home, they could possibly pay for a nice shopping spree.

Talking of High Street stores and recycling phones…regular shoppers at Boots who hold a Boots Advantage Card can also take advantage of their old mobile phone recycling scheme. Boots will reward you with up to 5000 points for your phone. These points can obviously then be spent on goods within Boots’ stores. Each point is worth one pence. Boots follow the same system as other online phone recycling companies; they just compensate you by a different means. You are still required to send your phone to them and they will make sure that it meets their terms and conditions before they add points to your account.

First, search the internet for web-based companies with a good track record for taking old mobile phones and paying cash in return. Read reviews from independent sites and decide on which site to sell your phone to.

Second, go to different websites and compare prices. The differences may be small but surely for some people, a difference of even just a few pounds will count. Once you have decided on where you should sell your phone, they will tell you how much they will pay for it. If you decide to accept the offer, they will send you a sort of jiffy bag to post your mobile phone in. The price they will pay you may not be much, but it is certainly better than nothing.

Lastly, do not forget to remove your SIM and other data cards from your phone as well as pin or security codes that can hamper testing. Also, do not send its box and other accessories when you send your phone to the company, and don’t forget to send it fully charged.

Isis works for the charity, Oxfam, to collect and recycle old mobile phones and even the very old models are worth something to them. They can collect from £2 to £20 each for outdated mobile phones, which have no resale value, through any of the websites that buy them.

When Isis receives the mobile phones the SIM cards are removed and destroyed and any numbers and other information is removed from the phone. Then they recondition the handset and make sure that it is working properly. Many of the phones that are refurbished in this way go to charities in Africa, where there are very poor communications and landline telephones are not available.

Any mobile phones that are not suitable for reuse will be stripped down for parts and the batteries destroyed in a safe way.

Isis has been carrying out this work for more than ten years in England and Wales and a similar scheme is available in Scotland. With the increasing number of mobile phones being purchased, their workload is sure to increase.

There are also a number of independent review companies for these phone recycling sites. These companies usually compare prices among the various companies and give useful information which is usually not available on the website of a particular company. Independent sites like Mobile Phone Recycling, with an official website at www.mobilephonerecycling.co.uk, lists the top mobile phone recycling companies as well as the top models of recycled phones with their prices compared.

Among these phones, the Samsung U600 model is one of the most commonly sold. Companies buy it for prices ranging from £5 to £12.50 with Fone Bank offering the highest price. Another commonly sold phone is the Nokia N96 model with price offers from £105 to £115, with Money4urMobile offering the highest price.

The Sony Ericsson K800i is another phone which can be sold at almost every phone recycling company, with price offers ranging from £22.09 to £26.50.

The only LG phone model among the top 12 recycled phones is the LG KU990 Viewty. It can fetch a minimum of £5 and a maximum of £24.50.

Sometimes the differences among the prices are very little but sometimes they can be very high depending on many extraneous factors as well as company priorities.

Among the other phones in the Top 12 list are the Nokia 6500 Slide, Nokia N95, Nokia 6300, Sony Ericsson K850i and Samsung F480 Tocco. Nokia phones still dominate the list.

With the number of mobile phones in use increasing daily and many people determined to always have the latest model, the number of discarded and unused mobiles is also increasing, with many ending up in landfill sites where the hazardous materials they contain, such as cadmium and beryllium, will be released into the environment.

Using a service that pays you cash for mobile phones can be as simple as going online and filling out a form. The whole process can take as little as a week from beginning to end, and the firm buying your phone covers all the postage fees. They will also often provide the packaging to send it to them.

Even if your mobile is broken and not really worth anything you can still get it recycled free of charge, thereby reducing the demand for new materials to be extracted from unsightly strip mines and preventing any dangerous chemicals from escaping into the environment.

There are many firms to choose from, such as Envirofone, Mazuma and Mobile Phone Exchange. There are also a couple of comparison sites where you can go to find the best price for your phone, like Mobilephonerecycling.co.uk. It’s so easy to do and makes a lot of sense both for your pocket and the environment.