Thursday 19 December 2013

Study Warns That E-Waste Could Grow By 33% By 2017

New data gathered by the United Nations, governments and science organisations has revealed that the total amount of electronic waste across the world could rise by a third in the next four years, reaching the weight of 200 Empire State Buildings, which is the equivalent of 72 million tonnes.

The data gathered, which has been used in a new initiative named 'Solving the E-Waste Problem' (StEP), includes a map of electronic waste around the world that gives information from 184 countries with estimations of the electronic devices sold in each of them and the amount of waste this will eventually generate. The map is published online and is aimed at helping national governments, as well as the business sector, tackle the electronic waste they produce. Currently, the United States and China are the biggest e-waste producers, with 11 million tonnes and 12.2 million tonnes, respectively.

Electronic waste includes all electrical and electronic appliances, from TV sets and irons to mobile phones and tablets - anything that needs a battery or a power cord to function. In view of the huge increase in its amount over the next years, businesses, as well as individual users of electronic and electric devices, should start looking for ways to reduce the waste they produce. For individuals, recycling or donating their unused gadgets for charity to be reused are the readily available options, while businesses would do well to consider some long-term strategies such as sustainable energy solutions and lasting technology that would need increased investment but will service them over a longer period.

Fonehub offers professional mobile phone recycling services for unbeatable prices. Do your part for the environment and sell us your unwanted mobile phones!

Thursday 12 December 2013

Nationwide Campaign To Ban Food Waste In Landfills

A national-scale campaign was launched by the government with the aim of banning food waste going into landfills by 2020, after estimates showed that this could bring in savings of over £17 billion a year, the Guardian reports.

Titled Vision 2020: UK Roadmap to Zero Food Waste to Landfill, the initiative is being backed by local councils along with food production, retail and restaurant industries.

Figures released last month showed that the average British family throws away food worth £60 every month, which translates into around 4.2 million tonnes of food waste every year. According to the figures, compiled by government advisory group Wrap, one-fifth of the food households buy is thrown away, and 60% of this could have been eaten and drank. To remedy matters, the report proposes obligatory food collection by local councils as the core measure to eliminate food waste in landfills. At the moment, only 40% of local authorities collect food separately. According to the Local Government Authority, which took part in the report, a 50% reduction in "food contamination" of recycling would bring in savings of £1 billion by 2020.

In general, the report urges all participants in the supply chain to collaborate on devising best practices on reducing food waste, making the best use of what's left of it for soil fertiliser and for power generation.

Food recycling through anaerobic digestion, for example, can make 1.3 million tonnes of fertiliser a year, or can generate more than one terawatt-hour of electricity over the same period. This power is sufficient to cover the power needs of 600,000 homes, the report says.

This article was brought to you by Fonehub Limited.

Thursday 5 December 2013

Samsung Rumoured To Work on S5 Metal Body

The much anticipated addition to the Samsung Galaxy family may have a brand new feature that, albeit not entirely unexpected, will take Samsung's design into a complete new direction. The South Korean manufacturer is reported to be preparing a new metal body for its upcoming S5.

According to a report by Korean website EMSOne, Taiwanese-based supplier Catcher is ready to start shipping metal components to Samsung. It is believed that the South Korean company has turned to HTC designers who came up with the acclaimed aluminium- body models, technology news site Crave reports.
The new S5 may be revealed as early as January 2014, but it is more likely that the official presentation of the device will be held in March. Based on the popularity of the Galaxy series, the manufacturer is reported to have ordered up to 30 million metal bodies.


Samsung had been rumored to have plans to ditch its plastic design for years, so the report is not a surprise to industry experts. The transition from plastic cases to metal bodies may have been in the works ever since the launch of the Galaxy S4, which faced serious criticism over its less than premium design, reports said. However, the switch to metal has been expected even before the release of the S4, but rumors then were proved wrong. This time the change may actually happen, since Sony and HTC have both launched their flagships standing at the higher end of the market. We will just have to wait and see.

So if you are looking for a Samsung trade in, visit this section of our website.

Thursday 21 November 2013

Virgin Media Offers Discount On New iPhone For TV Subscribers

Virgin Media will sell the new iPhone 5C and iPhone 5S at a special discounted rate for its TV subscribers, and will also offer £5 off their bills each month. Starting this Friday, when the new Apple smartphones hit Virgin stores, Virgin subscribers will also get the option of free calls to friends and family members who also use Virgin Mobile. As another added bonus, they will also get free insurance for their new iPhone.

For the 5S, Virgin clients will need to pay £69 upfront for all memory options, but there will be a difference in the monthly instalment discounts: the 16GB version with 1GB of data transfer capacity will cost £41 per month; the 32GB model includes 3GB of data and will cost £59; the 64GB version with unlimited data transfer will cost £71 per month.

For the 5C model, customers will have to pay £29 upfront and £33 per month for the 16GB version with 500MB data, and £69 upfront plus £41 every month for the 32GB version with 1GB of data. Alternatively, people can get the 4S for free at first, with £23 monthly instalments and 250MB of data. All figures are for two-year contracts.

To compare, retail prices for the 5C start from £469 for the 16GB version, and the 32GB version costs £549. The 5S starts from £549 for the 16GB version, £629 for the 32GB version, and £709 for the 64GB model.

This news update was brought to you by Fonehub - the mobile phone recycling specialists.


Thursday 14 November 2013

Some Facts And Figures About Mobile Phone Recycling

Many of us are guilty of throwing our old mobile phones straight into the bin when we no longer need them. However, as the following facts and figures prove, recycling phones and any other electronic device is the best option for both ourselves and the environment.

There is around £6.9 billion worth of unused phones in the UK at the moment, which equals approximately 90 million mobiles. Shockingly, 50% of Britons are not aware of how easy mobile phone recycling is. Another possibly shocking figure is that 14% of the population keeps no less than four unused mobiles at home, while the average for the majority is two.

If we take a wider look at the whole of Europe, we'll see that the number of unused mobiles on the continent totals an estimated 160 million. To put this in some perspective: if all the gold and lead from these 160 million phones are collected, they will be worth £315 million. Globally, it has been calculated that if all the gold from unused mobiles is collected, it will reach an amount of 16 metric tonnes.

Worryingly, pollution from mobile phone batteries affects water equaling the size of 80 billion Olympic swimming pools. Perhaps the worst thing is that mobiles in landfills leak toxic chemicals which, through the soil and the water, come back to poison us. Mobiles contain lead, cadmium, mercury, bromine, and brominated flame retardants, all of them damaging for the human body. Mercury, to begin with, can cause blindness and high blood pressure. Cadmium affects the kidneys and causes permanent damage to their function. It is also a proven carcinogen, and scientists suspect that lead and bromine can also cause cancer in various organs.

So, take your old mobile to a recycling place or donate it to charity, don't let it lie around or throw it away with the garbage.


Thursday 7 November 2013

Recycling My Mobile Phone

Electronics Recycling Supports Communities and Creates Jobs

Recycling old mobile phones, computers, and other electronic devices has a number of advantages, including the recovering of rare earths and conflict minerals, and protecting the environment from toxic waste. However, it also has great social implications that perhaps don't cross your mind very often. Just look at the figures: every year, around 128 million mobile phones are estimated to be replaced with new ones, and some two million tonnes of electronic equipment is discarded.

Recycling electronics supports the community in two ways: by creating new jobs, and by providing access to modern technology to people otherwise unable to afford it. The new jobs come as recycling expands and more and more businesses become engaged with it, opening new recycling facilities. It is therefore important to support this expansion by participating and promoting electronics recycling. In the United States, there is already a law prohibiting the export of electronic waste, which was earlier estimated to be conducive to the creation of around 42,000 new jobs in the recycling industry.

Recycling can also take the form of donation to charities, schools, and low-income families, allowing people who would otherwise be unable to access modern technology use things like smartphones and personal computers. A word of caution, however: don't donate very old mobile phones or desktops, as this is likely to turn into a disadvantage for the organisation you donate them to - as it would be hard for them to upgrade, make usable, or pass the old devices on, and eventually they might have to do your job: give the device away for actual recycling of the parts.


Visit the FoneHub website to learn more about selling mobile phones

Thursday 31 October 2013

Tips on Recycling Mobile Phones

According to data from the Recycle Now organisation, up to 80% of a mobile phone is recyclable, and now it is easier than ever for people to dispose their old mobiles in a safe way.

One of the options is to take your old mobile to the dealership where you got your new one. All mobile phone shops take in mobiles to be recycled, and some of them even pay a part-exchange fee. Another way is to take the old device to your local household recycling centre, where a variety of household items are recycled. If your old phone is in a good condition and still working well, you can donate it to a charity or a second-hand shop so that someone can still use it. Charities also recycle the phones they can't sell, so it's guaranteed that it will not go to waste and pollute the environment.

There are also online schemes for mobile phone recycling which pay you to give them your old mobile. You just need to find such a website, enter your phone's details, and you will be informed how much money you would receive. If you are fine with the deal, you will get a postage paid envelope in which to send your old phone, and will then receive a cheque with the sum it has been valued at.

A word of warning, however: make sure you remove your SIM card from the phone before you take it to a recycling hub, as well as any personal data and phone numbers.

This article was brought to by FoneHub Limited

Thursday 24 October 2013

Vodafone First to Distribute Samsung Express 2 LTE

Vodafone will be first to sell the new version of the Samsung Galaxy Express, called the Express 2 LTE. The phone will be launched in its stores this week, and will be later made available through other retailers.

The Samsung Express 2 LTE works with the Android 4.2 operational system, and has a 4.5-inch display. It is powered by a 1.7GHz dual core processor, and has an 8 GB on-board memory, which is expandable by another 64 GB via an SD card. The phone also features a 5-megapixel camera.

The Smartphone is equipped with a number of functions such as Smart Stay, which is an advanced facial recognition feature that detects when the phone is being used. It will include Group Play, which lets the owner share music, documents, and photos with other Samsung devices compatible with the feature, along with functions like S Travel, Story Album, and S Translator that target the tourist market in particular. The new model will be offered in Ceramic White at its launch and when it goes to other retailers. Vodafone, however, will continue to be the exclusive dealer of the Rigel Blue color variation.

The vice-president of Samsung's IT and mobile division for the United Kingdom and Ireland, Simon Stanford, said the newest addition to Samsung UK's Galaxy portfolio is aimed at providing users with a smoother and faster Smartphone experience, as well as offering them superior performance.


No information as to the price of the new product has been released.

This article was brought to you by FoneHub Limited 

Thursday 17 October 2013

Mobile Phone Recycling Cuts Use of Conflict Minerals

Did you know that your mobile phone contains a number of conflict minerals, whose mining is used to fund violent conflicts in Africa? This could be one more reason to motivate you to take your old mobile, or any other electronic device, to your nearest recycling point.

Conflict minerals are called this because their mining, which typically involves human rights abuse and child labour, are used to finance bloody conflicts; the biggest instance of which is the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The US Dodd-Frank Act lists among conflict minerals: wolframite (tungsten ore), columbite-tantalite (tantalum ore), gold, and cassiterite (tin ore). These are all used in electronic devices: gold is used to coat the internal wires of the device, tantalum is used in the batteries to ensure they hold their charge after they are disconnected from the socket, and tin is what circuit boards are mostly made of. Tungsten is used for the vibration function of mobile phones.

In the Congo, these are mined illegally by local militia groups, and the proceeds from their black market sale go towards funding the ongoing civil war. The other countries where conflict minerals are mined include South Sudan, Uganda, Rwanda, Angola, Burundi, Tanzania, Zambia, and the Central African Republic. In all of them, mining of the metals is used to fuel regional conflicts.


Since recycling technology is advanced enough to make a significant portion of electronic device contents reusable, it is one of the ways that we can contribute to reducing the mining of conflict minerals. The US has legislated against the use of conflict minerals in the Dodd-Frank Act, and the UK has put in place guidelines for companies trading in conflict minerals. There is a global move to put a stop to the criminal use of these minerals, and recycling is a significant part of it.

For more information on mobile phone recycling please visit the FoneHub website 

Thursday 10 October 2013

E-waste Recycling Saves Energy

Have you ever considered the benefits of recycling your mobile phone, PC, or tablet? We all know that electronic devices contain a range of valuable materials, including rare earths and precious metals, but did you know that recycling e-waste also saves huge amounts of energy?

According to the US Environmental Protection Agency, if the 100 million mobiles that are discarded every year around the world were recycled, the power saved would be enough to satisfy the energy needs of 18,500 households. Unfortunately, only a very small portion of is actually recycled.

With regard to laptops, recycling one million devices would save energy equivalent to almost 3,700 households annually, EPA figures also revealed.

Recycling e-waste also saves energy in its own right, as a process for making secondary raw materials. According to figures of Australian e-waste collector and recycler 1800eWaste, the recovery of steel, for example, takes up 74% less energy than the initial extraction of the metal from ore. The recovery of aluminium takes up 95% less energy, while the recovery of copper takes 85% less. Recycling lead uses 65% less energy than the initial extraction process, and the recycling of plastics uses 80% less power than its initial production.

With all this said, it needs reminding that many recyclable components are considered hazardous as they contain toxic chemicals, such as lead. With 20 to 50 metric tonnes of e-waste dumped into landfills every year, things start to look quite grim. Recycling, however, removes this health hazard from the environment and it does so in an energy-efficient way.

Thursday 3 October 2013

Recycling Phones Prevents Pollution And Makes Use Of Raw Materials

When we purchase a new mobile phone, many of us feel guilty of simply throwing our old one in the bin. However, getting rid of your phone in this way may not be the best option, especially because most devices contain substances which are damaging to the environment. What's more, mobile phones actually contain a lot of valuable materials, including gold and silver, which should not go to waste. The solution for both of these issues is recycling.

Recycling technology for mobile phones is continually improving, and many methods are able to recover up to 80% of the raw materials that went into making the phone. Of the materials recovered, many include rare elements such as gold, copper, nickel, manganese, cobalt (from batteries), and palladium.

Recycling has become very important for the metals industry, given the number of electrical devices that are no longer in use. In Germany alone, there are around 72 million mobile phones stored away and not used, according to estimates by Bitkom, the Federal Association for Information Technology, Telecommunications, and New Media. Perhaps more striking, is the calculation that one million mobile phones contain a total of 24 kg of gold, 250 kg of silver, 9 kg of palladium, and a whopping nine tonnes of copper. It's a pity that a lot of these precious metals go to waste disposal sites, instead of being retrieved and used again.

Apart from everything else, recycling your mobile phone is easy: just take it to a mobile phone shop or to your local network provider, who will take care of it for you.

For more information on mobile phone recycling visit our website FoneHub Limited