cell phone recycling

Your smartphone's secret afterlife (Smartphones Unlocked)

A blue mat, a fine-tipped screwdriver, and a dozen itty bitty screws. This is Titus Green's workspace, set within a warehouse that processes 2 million pounds of unwanted electronic waste each year.

Green, 22, and his team at San Francisco Bay Area e-waste collection center Green Citizen, refurbish 30 cell phones a day to put back into customers' hands.

If you don't chuck your electronics down the trash chute (and please don't,) the most likely cycle is that the phone will be refurbished and resold, one way or another.

Of the appliances that come through Green Citizen'… Read more

Ask Maggie: On disabling unwanted Android apps, recycling cell phones

Smartphone manufacturers, Google, and wireless operators may think they're doing consumers a favor by preinstalling or bundling apps into the Android OS on their new smartphones, but some wireless subscribers would rather they didn't.

In this week's Ask Maggie column, I help a reader figure out the best way to disable applications that come bundled with Android phones and OS upgrades. I also explain why some phones easily connect to a 3G wireless and why some end up on slower-speed networks. And finally, I give a reader advice about how she can recycle old cell phones.

Ask … Read more

Nokia kiosks collect phones for recycling

Nokia has introduced automated kiosks across the central Klang Valley of Malaysia in a bid to encourage people to recycle their mobile phones.

In a recent study conducted by the mobile-phone maker, only 3 percent of respondents recycled their cell phones, and 50 percent were unaware that their devices could be reused.

Nokia is hoping to improve the statistics with the introduction of kiosks specially designed to ease the recycling process.

"We've been at the forefront of driving environmental initiatives in the mobile industry for over a decade, and Nokia Malaysia is the first to launch this automated … Read more