My old-but-faithful Treo 300.
Posted on 12/03/2004 10:18:54 AM PST by kerrywearsbotox
By Gene J. Koprowski UPI Technology News
Published 12/3/2004 9:04 AM CHICAGO, Dec. 3 (UPI) -- A mobile phone is a disposable product -- consumers buy a new one about every year and a half, and toss the old one in the closet. Then, years later, when they have a major house-cleaning weekend, they find a few old phones collecting dust and toss them out in the trash. Experts told UPI's Wireless World this pattern is starting to become a major environmental issue, as old mobile phones start to fill up garbage dumps across the United States and leach lead, arsenic, gold and other toxins into the groundwater. "There are a lot of heavy metals being released into landfills because of old mobile phones," said Chuck Harrell, an environmental supervisor with the Southeastern Public Service Authority, a government agency in Chesapeake, Va.Now, mobile phone manufacturers such as Motorola Corp. are collaborating with environmentalists and the government to solve this emerging problem. --Wireless World is a weekly series examining the social, cultural and economic impact of mobile telephony technology, by Gene Koprowski, who covers technology for UPI Science News. E-mail sciencemail@upi.com. Copyright © 2001-2004 United Press International
(Excerpt) Read more at upi.com ...
OH, don't claim that heavy metals cause health hazards - some (a small but ignorant minority) will call you a pinko enviro-fag.
This is mind boggling to me. I have owned a total of two cell phones over the past fifteen years. Why do they need new ones so often?
If I need to dispose of one , I'll put it right next to the dead flashlight batteries that I make a point of putting in the trash---
Notice the statement that it is mobile phones that are filling up garbage dumps across the USA. What a crock!
These people that write these articles really have no clue to how brain-dead they appear.
I admit to being guilty on this one (once). I just upgraded from 2 2-year-old Kyoceras to 2 Nokias (one fer me, one fer the Wife).
But that's mostly because the Kyocera's charging ports started not connecting reliably, and the battery contact design is terrible (Wife's was loose, and would often lose contact completely and shut down).
Same here, almost. I'm on my third cell phone, the only reason I had to buy the 2nd one was because the battery crapped out, and it would have cost nearly as much as a new phone to buy a battery, so I bought a phone that was updated. I really haven't worried to much about tossing the old one in the trash.
They're right - old mobile phones ARE a health hazard. You can throw out your back trying to lift them up to your mouth to talk.
Its nice to hear of an environmental group what works with Industrial technology to find more environmentally friendly alternatives.
I smell a setup for a new disposal tax on the cell bill right next to Algore's fee for wiring schools.
My old-but-faithful Treo 300.
Really?
However, It seems unlikely that metals, a natural element, are polluting our natural environment.
As one who owns a few shares of Nokia, I thank you!
~</:o)
Bingo!!
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OH, don't claim that heavy metals cause health hazards
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Repeat after me: Dosage, dosage, dosage.
Home Depot, Radio Shack and lot of other places that sell rechargeable batteries have recycling bins, why not put NiCad and NiMH batteries there?
---yeah---the Republidums sure did a great job getting rid of that---
Gold?
--(sarcasm)--I save precious petroleum by putting them in the trash rather than driving to the recycling center--
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