Who Wants Old Mobiles Anyway?
Some companies that buy old mobile phones will take even very old models. Phones that are over four years old are recycled, rather than refurbished, in most cases. Certain models are cleaned up and made ready for resale in countries where mobile phones are generally too expensive for the majority of people to buy.
Older phones are dismantled and the parts are used to build new ones. This is environmentally friendly and cheaper than using new components. There is money to be made from these if you have large quantities of them. For example, a charity could collect old mobile phones and sell them to one of these companies. Generally speaking most mobile phone recycling companies will help here.
Phones, which are over four years old usually, have no value, but they will still be accepted by charities that will sell them on for recycling. Oxfam has a scheme whereby you can send up to twenty old phones in a pre paid jiffy bag and they will sell them on to recyclers. Office Green Technologies also have schemes where they will collect phones and donate money to charity for old mobile phones that nobody else wants to buy. This is an excellent way to make money for your favourite charity.
So, once mobile phone models go out of fashion, many of them can be refurbished and sold abroad. Damaged and very old mobiles are usually stripped down and the components reused to help the environment.
If you have a mobile phone that is less than four years old, it is worth checking a comparison site to see how much you can sell it for. However, don’t just throw the very old ones away because they have no resale value; charities like Oxfam can benefit from them.