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The BlueDot is a leading online retailer of new, refurbished and used cell phones, wireless cell phone accessories and other consumer electronics. At our company we strive to provide the highest quality products combined with the highest level of customer satisfaction. We carry a wide selection of cell phones and wireless cell phone accessories from over 10 cellular phone carriers – including AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobile among others.
We at The BlueDot have found that our commitment to green is a big draw to our customers. We’ve pledged to plant a tree for every refurbished or used cell phone sold on our website through The Nature Conservancy’s Plant a Billion Trees campaign. But that’s superficial compared to the green impact of our entire business model.
E-waste (chic for electronic waste) has the highest growth rate of municipal waste in the US. In 2009, 1.2 billion cellphones were sold. Many of these will require upgrades within 12-18 months. 130 million cellphones are disposed of each year resulting in over 65,000 tons of trash. According to the EPA, only 10% of used cell phones and used cell phone products are recycled properly each year.
Cell phones are the latest in a long line of technologies that require special disposal procedures and, as usual, the proper measures are rarely taken. When phones are tossed like regular waste they end up in your local landfill, where they stay. These used cell phones contain persistent metals that won’t ever break down and bio-accumulative metals that become toxic over time. Cadmium, lead, nickel, mercury, and lithium are all found in cell phones. As these used cell phones begin decomposing, they emit high levels of methane gas, a leading contributor to climate change.