By Alfred Hermida BBC News Online technology staff

Old mobile phones can still be of value

Chances are it will end up gathering dust in a cupboard or maybe just go straight into the bin.

But what may seem like a useless old phone could find a new life, thank to companies like Recellular.

The US firm has built a thriving business out of buying old mobiles from charities, refurbishing them, and reselling them at a low cost to developing countries.

"Why throw anything in the garbage when it has some reuse value," said Gary Straus, Chief Financial Officer with Recellular.

"There are some bad things in cellular phones. There's cadium in the battery and there is some bromide and flame retardants that you don't want in the waste stream."

"Of the phones that we take in, we recycle 100% of the parts, so nothing from a phone goes into a landfill," he said.

Handset stockpile

The growing popularity of mobile phones presents a big environmental challenge, as people regularly buy new handsets.

The phone is not useful to the people who have them, but they are useful to a charity or somebody else in the world Gary Straus, Recellular

Americans typically use their phones for about 18 months before replacing them, generating about 65,000 tons of old mobile phones annually.

Environmentalists estimate the US could be left with a stockpile of 500 million used handsets by 2005.

""95% of phones just go into a closet or basement or glove compartment of a car," said Mr Straus.

"They simply sit there, they aren't going anywhere. But there's value in those phones, so why let them pile up?"

"The phone is not useful to the people who have them, but they are useful to a charity or somebody else in the world. We just need to put the two together."

Since 1991, Recellular has taken old phones and giving them new life and it now processes more than 200,000 a month.

Initially most of them came from manufacturers and mobile operators. But two year's ago it started working with charities to encourage people to donate their used phones.

Charitable donations

About 65,000 tons of old mobiles generated annually in the US

Today, half of Recellular's phones come from donations to charities. The company expects to pay charitable organisations more than $10m this year for used phones.

About 75% of the mobiles are reconditioned and two-thirds are sold at low prices to developing countries.

Many end up in Latin America, but the company has also sent phones to China, India and Russia.

The company has found that mobiles spurned by people in the UK or US are snapped up elsewhere.

"We are still selling five-year old phones somewhere in the world," said Mr Straus.

The work of Recellular reflects a growing awareness in the electronics industry of the environmental cost of gadgets.

Rough estimates suggest that the UK will generate around 4.6 tonnes of lead by 2005 from mobile phones alone.

This figure increases dramatically when other electronic waste such as personal computers, televisions and stereos is added into the equation