Old cellphones get new life in South America

By Don Oldenburg
The Washington Post

WASHINGTON — Don't know what to do with those old cellular phones?

Most people don't.

The average lifespan of a cellphone is about 18 months, according to industry statistics. Users upgrade that often, or change service providers and buy new cellphones.

A recent survey conducted by the nonprofit Rechargeable Battery Recycling Corp. found that more than 56 percent of cellphone users surveyed still have their old cellphones somewhere.

"With 150 million [U.S.] cellphone subscribers and every 18 months they're getting new phones, there are millions of cellphones every month that go inactive," says James Mosieur, CEO of RMS Communications Group in Ocala, Fla. Two years ago, he founded CellForCash.com, one of several Web-based businesses that buy back used cellphones from consumers.

CellForCash.com collects 8,000 to 10,000 used cellphones a month, he says. Eighty-five percent of them come from consumers who visit the Web site and find their used cellphones among the 200 to 250 recyclable models listed. They fill out the online form to receive postage-paid boxes for shipping. When the company receives the phone, it sends the check.

How much depends on the make and model. Customers get $5 for a Nokia 5165, one of the oldest models CellForCash.com accepts. An NEC 523 earns $43. A Panasonic GU87 goes for $60. Mosieur resells most of the phones in South America. So does Robert Newton, owner and president of Old Cell Phone Co. in Port St. Lucie, Fla. Newton explained that cellphone technology in Third World countries is a step behind technology here, so as U.S. consumers go from digital cellphones to GSM technology, South Americans go from analog to digital.

But reselling old cellphones isn't just about money. Recent studies by the University of Florida found that millions of old cellphones dumped into landfills could leach dangerous levels of lead and toxins such as brominates from flame retardants in the plastic housing and arsenic and nickel from their circuit boards into soil and groundwater, causing an environmental hazard.