E

ver wondered what happens to the thousands of mobile phones that go off duty every day? Whether your child has gleefully tossed yours in the washing machine, or you have succumbed to the lure of a sleek new model, your trusted companion sooner or later moves on. Sentimental issues aside, this leaves you with the thorny problem of what to do with the phone’s metallic carcass without trashing the environment.

At least 650 million mobile phones’ worth of electronic waste crops up every year according to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). It’s all downhill from here, with their remains being ignominiously burnt in incinerators or slowly decaying in landfills, where they release toxic materials such as mercury, cadmium, lead, arsenic, dioxins and other unsavory chemicals. This potent cocktail sticks around in the environment, eventually filtering into our food chain -- yet another useful reminder of how our seemingly trivial consumer fancies often return to bite us in the back.

Not all mobiles suffer the same fate. In Indonesia, many unwanted devices are cannibalized in repair and reuse stores, where they come back to life after being grafted with new components. Meanwhile, parts that are damaged beyond repair are integrated into the informal recycling chain.

So, what to do with an unusable mobile phone? According to a major mobile phone manufacturer, 44 percent of us leave our dead devices at the bottom of our drawers, perhaps silently praying for their eventual resuscitation (the author pleads guilty). Only a further nine percent, perhaps of a more proactive personality type, actually go to the trouble of recycling their devices.

If you have a Nokia, your chances of demonstrating eco-friendly commitments are greatly enhanced. The company claims that 100 percent of the material in their devices can be recycled to make anything from musical instruments to kitchen appliances and -- wait for it -- park benches. All you need to do is to bring your phone to the local Nokia Service Center and, lo and behold, your device ultimately comes back to life in a new form.

Things are definitely less exciting if you happen to own a mobile phone from another leading brand. In this case, your best bet is to bring the device to a reuse store. You are unlikely to reclaim much of the phone’s original price, but at least you can give it a new lease of life and, to some extent, reduce the harm it would cause if it was just binned.

Of course, this column could also tell you not to succumb to the temptation of the latest mobile phone that lands on the market. With every new device that rolls off the factory floor, an environmental debt is instantly created that will take generations to wipe out. But would you listen between the squawks of Angry Birds?

Marc-Antoine Dunais heads Catalyze Sustainability Communications, a consulting agency that works with environmental organizations and green-minded businesses. His Twitter account is: @catalyzecomms.