Two phones overlapping

Looking to recycle mobile phones for yourself or your organization? In today’s swiftly evolving tech landscape, corporate responsibility is more vital than ever. When considering upgrading your corporations’ mobile devices, it’s crucial to consider the fate of old phones since they contain so much data.

Less than 20% of mobile phones are recycled, according to the EPA.

Recycling mobile devices not only showcases environmental stewardship on behalf of your organization but it also supports important global sustainability goals such as:

  • Reducing landfill usage
  • Promoting re-use of recycled e-waste into new electronics
  • Keeping toxic chemicals out of soil, which will prevent new dead zones.
  • Read on to learn how you can start recycling your mobile device(s) today or contact us now to get started today!

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Throwing Your Mobile Phone In The Trash is Risky!

The US has over 3,000 active landfills — that’s 1,800,000 football fields’ worth of waste! By throwing your phone in the garbage, you are adding on to the growing amount of waste in the US. Not only that, but 1 out of 4 data breaches happen because of negligence, which includes improper disposal methods for electronics. (HIPAA Journal)

Your mobile phone contains sensitive data such as location history, photos, texts, contacts and saved passwords.

Nowadays, it seems like every type of electronic device saves or uploads your data. Cellphones specifically contain tons of data, including detailed time logs of all phone activity, photos and saved passwords.

In short, don’t throw your data away!

Do you have more to recycle but are not sure if those devices contain data? Check out our guide on backing up your data before recycling for each type of electronic device.

How To Recycle Your Mobile Phone

Step #1. Identify Which Devices To Recycle

Assess which phones in your organization are ready for recycling based on their brand and condition and gather them together in one designated place or container.

Step #2. Remove All Data Storage Devices From Your Phone

Take out the SIM and memory cards from each mobile device and decide if you would like them to be destroyed or if you would like to transfer the data to your new device(s). If this is too redundant for the amount of e-waste you have, we can remove each data storage device for you. Click here to get started now!

Quick Tip: If you are planning on upgrading to cellphones with e-SIMs, then your physical SIMs will no longer hold any value and can be recycled once you’ve switched.

 

Step #3. Destroy Data on Your Storage Devices

Ensure all personal and company data is securely destroyed. This is essential to protecting your sensitive data! There are multiple options for data destruction ranging from factory resetting the device to shredding the contained data storage device into tiny pieces with an industrial grade shredder. We never recommend simply factory setting your device because there may still be backup recovery options available, opening you up to the risk of data theft. Need help with destroying your data? AIT can help! Check out our data destruction services below.

Our Data Destruction Services

AIT offers physical hard drive destruction with our industrial-grade shredder in our facility as the minimum level of data destruction for any industry or individual.

If your data is completely destroyed, then it is also completely irretrievable.

Devices that we destroy include hard disc drives (HDDs), solid-state drives (SSDs) and other physical storage media. Contact us if you are unsure if we can destroy the data on your device!

Asset serialization is a scanning service where each of your devices receives a unique identifier. Once pickup and recycling is complete, you will receive an e-waste recycling report that shows you what services have been done to each item.

This is a helpful feature if you need proof of secure chain-of-custody for a specific count of devices. or if you have a large number of highly sensitive data-containing devices.

We can also serialize any device you would like, whether they are data-containing or not.

We can destroy your data at your pickup location if you are within the tri-state area.

This is particularly helpful if you have highly sensitive data or if your company or industry requires a data destruction witness.

Step #4. Contact An E-Waste Recycler

AIT can pick up your e-waste to be recycled at our facility. You can also drop off your e-waste at our North Brunswick, NJ facility.
AIT can also facilitate e-waste recycling events for your company or organization where we will provide a large bin and data destruction services with documentation and certificates for you and your company.

A mobile phone is on top of a heap of electronics inside of an recycling bin with a green check mark next to it.

AIT will always provide you with full documentation detailing your recycling overview including:

  • Certificate of Destruction (CoD)
  • Certificate of Recycling
  • Full E-Waste Recycling Report

With accessible pick-up, drop-off and mail-in options available, AIT is excited to bridge the sustainability gap as your recycling partner.

Ready to get started? Fill out our form below and an e-waste recycling professional will be in contact with you shortly!

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