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Don't throw away your old flip phone – do this instead

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Don't throw away your old flip phone – do this instead

There's plenty you can do with an old flip phone instead of retiring it.

So, you are doing a bit of seasonal cleaning, and you came across the dreaded electronics drawer. One minute you are blissfully tidying up your office, the next you are confronted with a mountainous trove of old gadgets. But don't worry, holding onto an old flip phone is not a surefire sign that you belong on the next episode of "Hoarders."

Despite their lack of advanced features, old cellphones can still serve utilitarian purposes in their old age. From serving as an emergency backup to saving you from crafty pickpockets on vacation, you probably have good reasons to keep your old phones around.

But saving your phone is more than a useful lifehack: It's an ecological imperative. The mass of e-waste mounting in global landfills is an underdiscussed crisis. According to the United Nations' e-Waste Monitor, an estimated 62 million tons of electronics were thrown into the trash heap in 2022, representing an 82% increase from the decade prior. The UN projects yearly e-waste to increase by another 32% by 2030. Containing non-biodegradable materials and toxic chemicals, this mass of e-waste poses an acute danger to our air, water, and soil. Waste from the US alone was found to be causing a "hidden tsunami" of junk in Southeast Asia.

The vast majority of this waste goes unrecycled. According to the UN, less than a quarter of global electronic waste is correctly processed. Luckily, it is easy to recycle your old phone or donate it to charitable organizations in desperate need of cell phones.


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