Where Old Phones and Laptops End Up

Most old phones don't go anywhere at first. They go into a drawer, along with a laptop that stopped holding a charge, a tangle of cables and a tablet nobody has switched on in years. The drawer is the most common resting place for retired electronics, and in a sense it is a reasonable one: nothing has gone to landfill yet, and every option is still open.

The scale of what eventually leaves those drawers is large. The world generated about 62 million tonnes of electronic waste in 2022, according to the United Nations' Global E-waste Monitor, and only around 22 percent of it was documented as properly collected and recycled. The rest was thrown out with household trash, stored, traded informally or shipped abroad for processing in conditions that are often harmful to the people doing the work. Where a particular phone ends up depends almost entirely on what its owner does next.

The first job is your data

Before a device goes anywhere, it should be emptied of you. For a phone or tablet, that means backing up what you need, signing out of your Apple or Google account so the device isn't locked to you, and doing a full factory reset. On an iPhone, signing out also switches off Activation Lock, which otherwise makes the phone useless to anyone else. Modern Macs and Windows laptops with encrypted drives can be cleared with their built-in "erase all content" or "reset this PC" options. An old desktop with a spinning hard drive needs a secure-erase tool, or the drive can simply be removed and kept or physically destroyed. Smart speakers, watches and cameras should be removed from their companion apps before they are reset.

The best outcome: someone keeps using it

The greenest thing that can happen to a working device is a second owner. Most of the environmental cost of a phone or laptop is spent making it, so every extra year of use spreads that cost further. Phones that are a few years old often still have trade-in value through manufacturers, carriers or resale sites. Older working devices can go to charities, schools and community groups, though many accept only items in good condition with a charger.

A device that has stopped working is not necessarily finished. A new battery or screen can add years to a phone or laptop at a fraction of the price of a replacement. Independent repair shops, manufacturer service centers and volunteer repair cafes all do this work, and it is getting easier. The European Union has adopted right-to-repair rules, and in the United States, New York, Minnesota and California have passed laws requiring manufacturers to make parts, tools and manuals available. Some manufacturers now sell parts and repair guides directly to the public.

When it really is the end

For a device that can't be used or fixed, the goal is a recycler that handles it responsibly. In the US, look for one certified under e-Stewards or R2, the two main standards. Both require careful handling of hazardous materials and data, and e-Stewards also bans exporting hazardous waste to developing countries. Many electronics retailers run take-back programs, some charging a fee for large items such as televisions, and many manufacturers accept their own products by mail. Cities and counties often hold e-waste collection days, and many US states and most European countries ban electronics from ordinary trash altogether.

Batteries need special care. Lithium-ion batteries can catch fire when crushed in a garbage truck or at a sorting plant, and fires at recycling facilities caused by batteries have become a recurring problem. They should never go in household trash or curbside recycling. In the US and Canada, Call2Recycle runs drop-off points for rechargeable batteries, often in hardware and home-improvement stores. Tape over the terminals before you drop them off.

Inside the recycling plant

At a certified recycler, devices are usually taken apart partly by hand first, so that batteries and hazardous components can be removed safely. What remains is shredded and sorted. Magnets pull out steel, eddy currents push aluminum and copper aside, and other methods separate the plastics. Circuit boards are sent to specialized smelters that recover gold, silver, palladium and copper. A tonne of discarded phones contains far more gold than a tonne of typical gold ore, which is why careful recycling can be worthwhile.

Some materials are much harder to get back. The small amounts of rare earth elements in magnets, speakers and screens are rarely recovered at scale, and many plastics end up downcycled or burned for energy. That is the strongest argument for the earlier steps. A phone that keeps working for an extra two years, or goes to a new owner, saves more than any shredder can recover.

So the drawer is a fine place to start, as long as it is not where things stay. Wipe the device, see whether someone else can use it, then find it a certified recycler.