Wireless World: Old mobile phones a hazard

United Press International ^ | December 3, 2004 | Gene Koprowski

[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

[Fierce Allegiance]

Cell phone in lined landfill.
Heavy metal in leachate.
Leachate leaks into streat.
Crawdad ingests metals
catfish eats crayfish
bubba eats catfish, actually a whole mess of fried catfish, thereby ingesting significant amounts of heavy metals over the years.

Maybe a little extreme, but the stuff is quite difficult & expensive to remove from waterourses.

All landfills leak. period.

[Fierce Allegiance]

Gold won't hurt, my dad gets injections for his arthritis.

It's the nickel, cadmium, etc.

[dfwgator]

Why do they need new ones so often?

Because Madison Avenue has convinced people that cell phones are as much a fashion statement as a means to communicate.

[AlexW]

"OH, don't claim that heavy metals cause health hazards - some (a small but ignorant minority) will call you a pinko enviro-fag."

You ARE being sarcastic...no?

[Aquinasfan]

Why do they need new ones so often?

The colors change.

[EggsAckley]

Sadly, you're both correct.

I'm very happy with my six year old Nokia.

[Fierce Allegiance]

no.

[crv16]

Please, give me a break. Dumping an old phone in the trash adds about 0.000000000001% to the solid waste stream. Aren't there slightly more pressing things libs need to worry about?

[AlexW]

Well, I have been in the two-way radio business for over 30 years, and sold cell phones in the days when they were in handbags.

The thought of discarded phones being a health hazard is quite ludicrous.
Just think...How many hand held phones would make up the same content of heavy metals as ONE automobile battery?

I could go on about this, but it is not worth the time for something this ridiculous.

[farmfriend]

Rights, farms, environment ping.
Let me know if you wish to be added or removed from this list.
I don't get offended if you want to be removed.

[Fierce Allegiance]

You are right, the volume isn't a problem. The lib/com scum used to say disposable diapers would choke the landfills, until it was proven that typically make up only 0.5% of a typical landfill volume. Newsprint was at approx 35%, but you didn't see print reporters touting that, did you?

[Fierce Allegiance]

You are right, the lead and acid are nasty, especially because the lead is soluble to an extent in the acid. Most auto batteries are recycled nowadays.

The metals are different in the new batteries.

I knew I would get this s4it from someone.

[Polyxene]

SSSSSHHHHH!! Bob-the-Taxman-Taft might hear about this and levy yet another tax on us Ohioans!! He's taxed just about everything else!! Paging Ken Blackwell -- HELP!!!

[Carry_Okie]

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.

Leaching gold? Are they kidding? Pray tell, unless there's a healthy flow of aqua regia in the groundwater, how would that happen? Further, seeing as groundwater pollution from lead hasn't been detected in Gettysburg of Verdun, what do you think the likelihood of that is from cellphones?

This is nothing more than a scam.

[NHResident]

Well at least by cutting down the number of recipients it will delay the day that Social Security collapses.

[Thebaddog]

I was just in Dayton over Thanksgiving and everybody was crying the economic blues. I don't get it. The whole town is manufacturing and white collar and nothing is going on they say. Methinks that voting red this time might just help you guys.

[E.G.C.]

BTTT!!!!!!!

[WildTurkey]

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?

Battery life, reception, Bluetooth connectivity to computer, photos of grandkid on display, Alarm functions, size, ...

And this is just the base model now.

[Tallguy]

Cell phones are a very successful consumer product; electric cars are as yet an unsuccessful product that is favored by government & enviromentalist groups. Both use batteries that, if not disposed of properly, will cause problems at landfills. Guess which product catches all the heat?