The UK government has recently announced a new code of practice that will require mobile recycling companies to check whether a mobile handset has been stolen before reselling it.

Under the new code of practice, mobile recyclers will have to check the National Mobile Phone Register when they receive a mobile. The National Mobile Phone Register is connected to three databases which include a Police database of stolen phones, a reporting system called Immobilise and a database of blocked handsets. Companies will also have to record the date and time a phones is received, a brief description, the IMEI number, the name and address of the seller and the date when they checked the National databases.

Any mobile recyclers that don’t follow the new code of practice could face sanctions. Up to now around 20 UK mobile recycling companies have signed up which represents about 90% of the industry.

Its estimated that around 100,000 old mobiles phones with an average value of £50 each have been sent in for recycling in the past. According to the Police around 10,000 mobile handsets are stolen per month with 2/3’s of victims being teenagers aged thirteen to sixteen.