Buying a new mobile phone is good, but knowing how to dispose of your old one is even better! Fnac and Emmaüs want your old mobile telephones for their “Give your old mobile a second life” campaign. The principle  is based on protecting the environment by recycling electrical and electronic waste while creating jobs in the Emmaüs integration structures to “Serve first those who suffer most”, according to the commitment of its founder the Abbé Pierre.

 

Every year, more than 18 million old mobile telephones lie forgotten in cupboards or are thrown away. This represents a serious danger to the environment since these products contain heavy metals, lead, mercury and toxic substances such as ethers. However, recycling experts believe that 30% of these telephones could be given a second life. Enough to spur Fnac and Emmaüs into action. 72 collection points – in the form of large black telephones – have been set up in Fnac stores for your old mobile phones.

 

 

The handsets collected are sorted and tested in the workshops of Bocage and Triem, Emmaüs’ social integration subsidiaries, helping around fifty people in difficult situations to get back into the labour market. Any phones that can be used again are repaired and put on sale in one of Emmaüs 115 or so outlets for a price of around 20 to 30 euros.

 

In addition, every quarter, containers of mobile telephones are sent to Africa where traditional telephone lines are beyond the means of the poorest people.

 

Any phones that cannot be repaired are dismantled and sent to approved recycling centres. “Recycled plastics can be converted to traffic cones or car bumpers, for example” stated the association.