Protecting yourself and the environment when disposing of your smartphone

Nowadays, we have a tendency to upgrade our phone a lot more frequently than we ever have. After all, it seems that a new model is released onto the market every month. Moreover, most mobile phone providers offer a free upgrade service after a certain period of time, usually two years. This means that we are often chucking away mobile phones when they are in perfectly good condition. In this post, we are going to reveal a little bit more about getting rid of your smartphone; the dangers that are related to this and how to combat them.

There are two things you need to be concerned about when you get rid of your mobile phone. Firstly, you need to protect yourself. If you do not wipe everything off your phone effectively before you throw it away or pass it on to someone else, you are putting yourself at serious risk of identity fraud, which is a huge global problem at the moment. The second thing you need to be concerned about is the environment. The disposal of smartphones is contributing to the enormous worldwide problem of e-waste, hence the provision of the WEEE Regulations. We are seeing an unbelievable amount of electronic waste being dumped in landfills every year. This waste is extremely dangerous and causing health issues to those in the surrounding areas. The worst thing of all is that the majority of phones we throw away are in good working order, and thus there was no need for them to be chucked in the bin in the first place.

So first and foremost, let’s take a look at the different ways you can dispose of your phone and some are very similar to laptop disposal. The first option should always be to recycle the phone, unless your smartphone is way beyond the point of saving. Why not sell your phone to make a little bit of cash? Or, even better, you could donate your mobile to someone that needs it? Your smartphone may be too outdated for you, but you can rest assured that there are plenty of low-income families that would be over the moon to have such a gadget. If recycling your phone is not an option, you need to ensure it is disposed of in the correct manner. There are a lot of retailers that offer a take-back service. In fact, if you purchase a smartphone the company must take back your phone or guide you on how to do so, even if you did not buy it from there originally. The best option would be to use the services of professional e-waste recyclers.

By doing this, you can have the peace of mind that your mobile phone is being disposed of safely. Plus, most of these companies are experts in shredding data, and, therefore, you can also be safe in the knowledge that all personal data has been successfully wiped so that you are protected from the threat of identity threat. If you don’t go down this route, you will need to wipe your phone yourself. But, be aware that this requires much more than using the delete button or performing a system restore on your phone. All it takes is for a hacker to use specialist data retrieving software, which is quite easy to find.

The author has written and published articles on a wide range of topics including Small Business Advice, Tax and Accounting, Interior Design, House Renovation and Project Management.