Why you should sell your mobile phone?

Stop Hoarding Old Phones – Here’s Why You Should Finally Sell Yours

We’ve all been there. You upgrade to the latest iPhone or Samsung, toss the old one in a drawer “just in case,” and forget about it. Fast forward a few years, and suddenly you’ve got a mini tech graveyard.

You might wonder, Is it even worth selling these old phones?

Short answer: Yes. Absolutely.

Even if it’s scratched, cracked, or a little outdated, your phone still holds value—and not just in cash. Selling it does the planet a favour too. Here’s everything you need to know.

So, What Are You Doing With That Old Phone Anyway?

Let’s be honest—if it’s sitting in a drawer gathering dust, it’s not doing you (or anyone else) any good.

One thing you shouldn’t do? Toss it in the bin.

Old phones are packed with toxic stuff like lead, mercury, and plastic that sticks around in the environment for years. Even one phone battery can pollute 60,000 litres of water. That’s about 17,000 cups of tea—let that sink in.

And considering over 1.3 billion phones were sold in 2020, imagine how many are sitting unused… or worse, ending up in landfill. Not great.

E-Waste Is a Massive Problem (And We’re Kind of at the Centre of It)

Here’s the deal: electronic waste—aka e-waste—is the fastest-growing waste issue on the planet. And we’re all contributing to it without even realising.

Back in 2015, the world created 9.2 million tonnes of e-waste. By 2019, it jumped to 53.6 million tonnes. If things don’t change, we’re looking at over 111 million tonnes per year by 2050.

And the UK? We’re one of the worst offenders, producing more e-waste per person than almost anywhere else.

So yeah, it’s a problem. But luckily, there’s something simple you can do to help: sell your phone the smart way.

Here’s What Actually Happens When You Sell Your Phone

When you sell your old phone to a legit company like PhoneHatch, one of three things usually happens:

• If it’s in good shape, it gets resold to someone looking for a solid deal on a refurbished device.

• If it’s a bit beat up, it gets repaired and restored—usually with new parts and a lot of tech love.

• If it’s totally done for, it still has value. Phones are full of materials like gold, copper, silver, and lithium—aka stuff people dig miles into the ground to find. In fact, recycling phones is way more efficient than mining raw materials from the Earth.

According to the EPA, one tonne of phone circuit boards has 800x more gold than the same amount of mined ore. That’s wild.

But Wait—Recycling Phones Can Be Dangerous, Right?

Yes… if it’s not done properly.

Unfortunately, a lot of old phones that get “recycled” in the UK and US are shipped overseas to places like Africa and Southeast Asia. There, they’re taken apart by hand in unsafe conditions. People inhale toxic fumes and handle harmful materials without protection. It’s dangerous, damaging, and unfair.

The Columbia Climate School found that this kind of exposure causes serious health problems—everything from birth defects to respiratory issues. It also pollutes the air, soil, and water for surrounding communities.

Bottom line? If you’re going to sell your phone, do it through someone who handles it the right way.

Why Sell Your Phone with PhoneHatch?

We get it—selling your phone might sound like a hassle. But we’ve made it ridiculously easy. At PhoneHatch, we’re all about trust, sustainability, and keeping it simple.

Refurbishing and rehoming phones isn’t just something we do—it’s our whole thing. Our business model is built around the circular economy: rebox, rehome, repeat. That means no phone goes to waste, and nothing ends up in landfill if we can help it.

And for every phone we rehome, we plant a tree to help offset the phone’s lifetime carbon emissions. So you’re not just decluttering—you’re making a real difference.

Even if your phone’s had a few wild nights and seen better days, we’ll still take it and do our best to give it a second life.

Ready to Let Go?

So go on—ditch the drawer clutter, make a little cash, and do something good for the planet while you’re at it.