Just 8% of Mobile Phones Recycled or Refurbished

When their useful lifespan is over, just over 6 percent of mobile handsets are refurbished, and about 2 percent are ethically disposed of. But those numbers are predicted to rise over the next five years, according to a study on Green Mobile Phones from ABI Research.

By 2014, ABI projects that nearly 14 percent of handsets will be refurbished and about 4 percent will be ethically disposed of.

ABI suggests that refurbishment is the most ecologically sound way of handset disposal, since the device continues to be used and does not go into a landfill.