Get Extra Cash Selling your Old Phone

Need extra cash? Recycle your mobile phone

Money is tight these days. The UK economy is still struggling to regain its footing, and it’s made life tougher for everyone. It’s little surprise, then, that many UK residents are looking everywhere they can for some extra income. But there’s one avenue for quick cash that many locals haven’t yet tapped: They can sell their mobile phones for money.

No one’s asking UK residents to sell their current mobile phones, of course. But there are several private recycling companies in the country that are accepting consumers’ old and unwanted mobile phones. And they’re willing to send these consumers quick cash for their efforts.

Mobile phone makers are quick these days to introduce new, upgraded phones to the market. It seems a day doesn’t go by when a new mobile phone with improved picture-taking abilities or gaming options isn’t being advertised on TV or in the papers. It’s human nature for consumers to want to ditch their current mobiles for these shiny new models.

It’s what happens next, though, that’s a bit inexplicable. The vast majority of mobile phone owners will either ditch their current mobile into the trash or toss it into a dresser drawer somewhere. Neither option makes much sense.

First, look at the environment. All those trashed mobile phones have to go somewhere. Unfortunately, that somewhere is usually the bottom of a landfill. And once these phone are there, many older models start leaking lead, cadmium, beryllium and other unpleasant chemicals into the soil. It’s certainly not an ideal situation for a country stressing its “green” tendencies.

Secondly, look at the cash implications. Private recyclers are paying fairly good money for both working and non-functioning mobile phones. They’ll send about 50 pounds or so for mobile phones that are still in good working order. For those phones that aren’t working, the recycling companies will still send out about 20 to 30 pounds. That’s not a bad financial bonus for something that requires virtually no work on the part of consumers.

The majority of mobile phones owners, though, have no idea how to recycle their old mobile phones. A study by mobile phone maker Nokia pointed out this unfortunate fact: According to the results, 75 percent of mobile phone owners don’t know how to recycle their old mobile phones. This explains why only 3 percent of mobile phones in the UK are ever recycled.

Fortunately, this can be corrected easily enough. All it takes is for consumers to eduate themselves on the basics of selling their mobile phones for cash. Consumers merely have to log onto the many Web sites run by private phone recycling companies – They can choose from such sites as EnviroPhone.com or EarthMobile.com – to learn the basics of how the recycling process works.

In a nutshell, consumers tell the sites what old mobile phone they’d like to recycle. The sites then spit back an offer. Consumers who like the offer can accept it. Those who don’t can surf to the next recycling Web site to hunt for an offer that’s more to their liking.

Once consumers accept an offer, they simply mail their unwanted mobile phone to the recycling company. The recycling company then sends the agreed-upon fee back to them.

There’s no doubt about it: This is an easy way to make quick cash.

Think about the recycling option, then, the next time Nokia, Samsung or LG introduce a new mobile phone that you simply can’t live without. Not only will you be doing your part to keep the UK “green” and environmentally friendly, you’ll also be putting spending money in your pocket.

No matter how you look at it, recycling mobile phones for cash simply makes good sense.