Donate old mobile phones: These are the options

There are several ways to donate old mobile phones. By doing so, you not only support charitable projects, but also protect the environment

How you can donate old mobile phones

Almost everyone has old mobile phones at home that are no longer needed. These lie in drawers, boxes and cartons and are usually forgotten. Yet these mobile phones can also be donated.

• Old mobile phones can be donated to various companies, associations and organisations. For example, you can hand in or send in the phones to Deutsche Telekom, Deutsche Umwelthilfe or NABU. Mobile phones that are still in working order and repairable will be refurbished and sold. The proceeds go to a good cause, such as nature conservation. Mobile phones that can no longer be used are professionally recycled.
• Another possibility is to hand in the used mobile phones at a social department stores’ or at the Diakonie. This way, the phones can be passed on to those in need. It is also worth asking at the local food bank if there is a need for used mobile technology. The prerequisite for this is, of course, that the mobile phones still work.
• If you want to collect mobile phone donations yourself, you can also set up your own collection box. Almost all mobile phone collection points offer such boxes free of charge. Usually all you need to do is send an informal e-mail, call or order directly via the homepage of the respective organisation.
• Most organisations also offer free shipping labels that you can use to send in your old phones directly. Since the phones will continue to be used if possible, you should include the charging cable if possible. Be sure to delete all personal data from your phone before donating it.

This is why you shouldn’t let old phones gather dust in a drawer

Technology is constantly evolving and quite a few people buy a new phone every one to two years. In some cases, the predecessor can still be sold. If this is not the case, the devices often end up in the cupboard or, in the worst case, in the trash.

• Mobile phones contain valuable raw materials. These include the so-called rare earths, but also cobalt and gold. If these raw materials are not recycled, they have to be mined again and again for new technology. It goes without saying that naturally occurring resources are not infinitely available.
• The extraction of the raw materials needed to build mobile phones often takes place under catastrophic working conditions and miners usually receive only low wages. Occupational health and safety is often a foreign word in the countries from which many of these raw materials come, and child labour is also not uncommon. The more recycled materials are used, the fewer raw materials have to be mined.
• When you donate old mobile phones, the proceeds usually benefit the environment. In addition, reconditioning and repair of the old phones sometimes also take place in workshops for the disabled. This in turn creates jobs for those who would have little or no chance on the open labour market.