Life cycle of a cell phone
Material Extractions- Circuit boards are made up of raw materials including copper, gold, lead, nickel, zinc, beryllium, tantalum, coltan, and other metals. LCD screens are made out of mercury and other harmful man made chemicals.
Materials Processing- Plastic is made by combining crude oil with natural gasses in a processing plant. Copper is mined, ground, heated, and treatedwith chemicals and electricity to isolate thepure metal used to make circuit boards and batteries.
Manufacturing- plastic and fiber glasses are used to create the circuit board which contains copper wires. LCD screens are manufactured bysandwiching liquid crystalbetween layers of glass or plastic.
Packing and Transporting- Packing of call phones requires the use of trees for cardboard, so if you are recycling paper you are helping the use of cell phones. Transporting cell phones uses fossil fuels for transportation by train/truck/plane.
Useful Life- This is the time when the phone is new and is being used by consumers.
End of Life- This is the final process of the cell phone. This is when the original owner wants to dispose of the cell phone. The owner has options like to recycle the cell phone or give it away. Donating your cell phones to Cell Phones for Soldiers ( http://www.cellphonesforsoldiers.com/ ) or services like Hope Phones ( http://hopephones.org/ ). When you throw away your phone without recycling it ends up on the shores of 3rd world countries. The locals of these countries will be exposed to harmful chemicals and waste, what hope phones does is refurbishes the cell phones to keep them away from these countries.