Sustainable Phone Cases: And Recycling Old Phones

Most phone cases are made from virgin plastic, which not only supports the oil industry, but means that if dropped down a drain or by the sea, they break down into microplastics, ingested by marine creatures (same even with recycled plastic phone cases).

Avoid MagSafe protection covers near pacemakers or defibrillators and keep magnets away from children and pets.

Vets don’t recommend AirTag to track pets, due to risk of ingesting metal, plastic and batteries. Read how to prevent and find lost pets. 

Wave Case: zero-waste wheat straw phone cases

Wave Case is a small company founded by two friends in the north east, who were concerned about local coastal pollution. It makes phone cases (for iPhones, Samsung and Google) from wheat straw (a by-product of the farming industry that would either be landfilled or burned). Ideal for your more sustainable smartphone.

Matching Airpod and AirTag cases (for attaching keys or luggage) are also made from biodegradable wheat straw, sold with secure keyring attachments.

These phone cases are top quality, drop-tested 26 times and have 2mm ‘lips’ around the screens and cameras, for ultimate protection. The phones also have attractive natural ‘flecks’ (the wheat straw also gives better ‘grip’, so are less likely to slip out of your hands or pocket, like plastic or silicone).

The only caveat is that lighter colours may pick up dye from clothes (like in jeans pockets). If this is a concern, simply choose darker colour.

Recycled glass screen protectors

Wave Case also offers recycled glass screen protectors which again are drop-tested (to 1.5 metres) and compatible for all types of phones. To protect in transit, they are sold in plastic packaging (so recycle at kerbside or supermarket bag bins).

How to recycle Wave Case phone cases

You can send the cases back at end of life, for industrial composting. And get 20% discount on your next phone case.

For bulk recycling of phone cases, your community, office, school or council can buy a box (£100 to £200, depending on size) from TerraCycle that be filled with phone accessories (including cases and screen protectors).

Place the box in a community centre, shop or school – for people to drop off unwanted items. Send off (postage included) to be made into industrial goods, like piping. It’s a good one-off way to get all plastic phone waste out of your town or village forever.

Wave Case zero waste charging cables

The bio-based charging cables (with high-speed data transfer) are made to the same quality and strength as TPE (plastic) cables, sent in paper sleeves.

Where to recycle phones and phone cases

Mobile phones didn’t even exist a couple of decades ago, but now nearly everyone has one, and mostly smartphones. These are made with all kinds of materials (often mined) and donkeys are even used to transport the materials, so has animal welfare problems.

If left on landfills, the old phones release hazardous materials like lead, mercury, cadmium and arsenic, which leach into soil from landfills and pollute water supplies. Producing new phones also uses up immense energy.

It’s estimated that UK households and offices alone have tens of millions of unwanted phones lying in draws, and yet recycling them could help charities, and stop new phones being produced. And if sold (the expensive ones) could raise up to £3.4 billion in income, something no doubt that would help people in these hard financial times.

When asked why these phones are not recycled, the main answers are that people don’t know where to (see above for all the options!) and also that they are unsure how to wipe their phones, to remove private details that could be seen by others. Recycle Your Electricals tells you how to do it!

So now you know, you can donate unwanted phones to charity, recycle them on for others to use, or for expensive phones, sell them to one of the above companies, and make yourself a tidy sum!

Many small charities accept mobile phones (and other small electronic goods) for recycling. They can then sell them to companies to raise money for scrap metal etc.

Recycling for Good Causes lets you donate mobile phones to favourite causes (for medical charities, choose ones that help humane medical research):

This organisation can send a sack (free of charge) to recycle the following items once at 10 to 30kg weight, and arrange collection:

• Mobile phones
• Gadgets (Sat-Navs, Ipods, MP3 players, games consoles, games & accessories).
• Cameras (old film, digital and video)
• Jewellery & Watches (even if damaged or broken)
• Currency – Any coins or banknotes, UK & foreign
• Stamps (Loose, single, albums, first day covers, presentation packs)

Fill in the form or call 0800 633 5323.

Simpal is a charity that gives phones to people on low incomes. It accepts 4G working condition phones (no broken screens, with passwords and Google accounts removed, ideally factory reset).

You can also donate phones to Hubbub, just sign up for a Freepost envelope (phones are given to people on low incomes, with 12 months of free minutes). It will wipe iPhone or Androids (chargers not needed), the site has info on how to remove your Sim or Apple card.

How to sell unwanted mobile phones

You can send high-grade phones to these companies, in return for cash:

• Grade Mobile accepts phones, which they then clean of data (and fingerprints!), then sell refurbished at up to 60% of new price.
• Envirofone again buys quality refurbished phones (and tablets), then sells them at a fraction of high street prices, with 12-month warranties.

Phone accessory recycling boxes

TerraCycle offers a recycling box for phone accessories (phone cases and screen protectors), which are sent off to make into industrial goods, like piping.

Some of this organisation’s boxes are free (sponsored by industry).  This one isn’t, so costs £100 to £200, depending on size. But your community, office, school or council could pool money to buy one. When full, it’s sent off with the prepaid label, and a great way to get all phone waste out of your town forever.