Mobile phone and charity

[Marky B]

Charities ask for old mobile phones - working or not. What do they do to them to gain for charity?

Ta Ta

Marky B

[ugly_bob]

I think they refurbish them, then send them off to other countries, where they're more useful

[Simeon]

I believe in mobile phones there is a tiny amount of gold used for electrical contacts. In the UK it is not economically viable to extract this gold but it in third world countries it is. I know this a done practice but i am not sure if thats what the charities do with their donated phones.

[PhilLew]

Old mobiles can be worth money to companies like this

http://www.envirofone.com/

[Jay70]

Oxfam will accept your old phones. They are then sent to be tested. Working phones are often recased and then sent to 3rd world countries. old cases are compressed form a sheet of plastic which has even been sold as art. The batteries are disposed of safely due to the heavy metals some contain ie Ni-Cd.