A recent survey carried out in the USA by ABI Research has found that only 5% of people that recycled their old mobile phones would do so without any form of incentive.

The study of 1000 US consumers found that 70% of those polled donated their old mobiles to charity and got a tax deduction, of the people that had never recycled a phone 98% of them said they wouldn’t consider it without some form of compensation.

The results of the study show that many people are prepared to do their bit for the environment but are not prepared to recycle their old handsets without a financial reward.

A recent survey in the UK also found that mobile recycling related searches have risen a massive 189% in the last 12 months, mainly due to the increase of online recycling sites offering a cash reward for old phones.

It looks like in any country; merely appealing to people’s environmental consciences is not enough to stop old mobile phones from ending up on rubbish tips.

Recycle your old mobile phone for cash

Recent research has found that some consumers may be losing as much as 90% by selling their old phone at the wrong mobile recycling site.

Everyone has seen the TV adverts that are being shown recently from many mobile recycling companies offering top prices for old phones but research has shown that there can be a huge difference between the actual prices being paid.

It’s not worth simply going straight to a mobile recycling site top sell your old phone just because you have seen a fun advert. For example selling a Samsung Z700 on some sites will only get you £7 whilst on others you can get up to as much as £55, a huge difference. It’s always worth looking through every site until you find the best price for your old phone.

There are many mobile comparison tools available online however we have found that as the prices change so quickly some of these tools are not updated fast enough and so do not show accurate prices. It’s always best to search through each mobile recycling site yourself to get the correct prices.

Read our reviews on every mobile recycling site and compare prices here.

UK households will be rewarded with high street vouchers for recycling their waste under new Conservative plans.

Under the new Tory proposals families would be rewarded with high street vouchers for shops like M&S or Tesco of up to £130 a year for using their recycle bins. It’s estimated that the rewards could help to raise recycling rates in the UK up to 30% which would mean less rubbish would be ending up at landfill.

The recycling scheme would cover materials including paper, plastic, cardboard, metal and glass. Householders would be issued with blue roadside bins and the contents scanned as they are collected by rubbish trucks. Points would be allocated to each household and loaded onto a database so rewards could be claimed.

The new scheme has been tried out successfully in Tory run councils in the Home Counties. Instead of punishing people like labour currently do with bin taxes the Conservatives want to encourage people to recycle by offering rewards.

Newcastle has been named Britain’s ‘greenest’ city based on its green credentials according to a report published by Forum for the Future an environmental think tank.

The report was measured on 13 different factors including air quality, recycling, pollution, ecological footprint of people and animals, plans for the future, life expectancy and the local strategy for tackling climate change. Newcastle got the most points for their excellent air quality, low carbon emissions, low levels of waste and high recycling levels.

The BBC reports that chief executive of Forum for the Future, Peter Madden, said: “Cities with an industrial heritage face genuine challenges, but Newcastle’s success shows that it is possible to overcome the legacy of the past and perform well on many measures of sustainability.”

Newcastle pushed last year’s winner Bristol down to second place and Brighton came third. Bottom of the list includes Hull for the second year running, with Glasgow second to last and then Wolverhampton and Birmingham.

Although building fires is illegal and dangerous in the UK many people are expected to have one on Bonfire night on the 5th November. As bonfires create waste a leading waste and recycling company, SITA has launched a campaign to educate people about the dangers of building fires but if they do have a fire where to recycle the waste.

This is the 4th year that SITA has launched a campaign to increase public safety and also allow UK residents to recycle their bonfire waste. The campaign warns that if illegal fires are spotted they will be put out immediately by the local fire and rescue services. Waste from bonfires can be taken to one of SITA’s sites where it will be sorted along their green materials.

The campaign also warned residents that illegal fires are a big risk to nearby houses and cars and should not be started, accidents can be avoided by attending an organized event.

Teacher, Vivienne Foster was accused by Nottingham Council of fly tipping after she left a bag of paper next to a recycling bin because it was full.

The teacher was traced after one of the pieces of waste paper had her name and address on. The council then sent her a letter threatening court action unless she paid a fine. After being contacted about this matter by the local paper the council has decided to back down and has apologized to Ms Foster.

Recent research has found that by recycling old mobile phones people can cut their own carbon footprints.

When any electronic items are used such as mobile phones, computers, cameras or mp3 players’ carbon is produced. Also as many mobile phones are manufactured in the Far East transportation is also added. By recycling old electronic items like mobile phones we can all reduce our environmental impact.

Another ways to cut our own carbon footprints could be by buying second hand goods rather than brand new items, reducing use of car and either walking, car sharing or using public transport, switching lights and taps off.

A spokesman from Waste Watch recently said that mobile recycling is becoming increasing popular as more people in the UK are becoming more aware of climate change.

Cut your carbon footprint and recycle your old mobile today

In a recent study carried out by Suez Environment it has been found that 52% of rubbish that is dumped in London is ending up at landfill. This makes London the biggest dumper of rubbish out of all capital cities in Europe.

According to the report the average Londoner is dumping a massive 520kg of waste every year. Only 22% of waste in London is actually being recycled correctly.

Under new laws due to be introduced next year, local councils will be fined if they are found to be dumping to much waste at landfill. These fines will be £48 per tonne of landfill.

The greener capital cities in the report included Copenhagen who is throwing away 20% less rubbish than London which amounts to 420kg per person per year.

If more waste was sent to recycling plants rather than landfill the figures suggest that up to 40,000 extra jobs in London could be created.

Duracell one of the biggest manufacturers of batteries has recently signed a new agreement to help consumers recycle their old batteries by promoting the ways that this can be done. The agreement comes after a new EU directive will force every battery producer that makes over a tonne of batteries to get involved in the recycling of the products they make.

By October, 15th 2009 all producers of batteries must get involved in a community scheme for recycling them or they will receive penalties or fines from the EU.

Duracell is now waiting for their new battery recycling scheme to be approved by the Environment Agency. Duracell who currently produce over half of all batteries sold in the UK are confident their scheme will be accepted and state that as an industry leader it was their duty to get involved quickly.

The new EU law will not only apply to battery manufacturers but also shops that sell them. Any shops that sell more than 32 KG of batteries will be forced to set up in store recycling for consumer’s used batteries.

People in the UK are upgrading their phones faster than ever before due to many wanting to get the latest Smartphone that has everything on. This is leading to many more standard handsets getting recycling before they are going out of fashion.

Smartphones like the Apple iPhone or HTC Hero are the must have gadgets as they have many features which means people can do much more than ever on their mobile phone. This list of things includes surfing the internet at high speeds whilst on the go, using social media sites, taking pictures, storing hundreds of songs and downloading the latest applications.

Mopay, one of the top mobile recycling sites in the UK have recently released figures that shows that people are recycling the latest handsets well before they become obsolete.

Mobile phone recycling is starting to increase in the UK after the press recently revealed that the UK isn’t hitting EU recycling targets.

Recycle you old mobile for cash today