Fact of the Day: Make money from your old phone...

'Hello, Jeremy Kyle?'

If you're working from home like me, Cook or Timbobs, you'll know the words if I sing to you:

Make money from your old phone...

In fact, there's a whole bunch of companies on the tellybox at the moment, asking you to send them your old mobile in return for cash. (I could tell you the company names, and even link to their sites, but since they're not paying me, I won't).

Are you like me, and have watched those adverts a squillion times, wondering what happens to the donated phones? I used to think that perhaps they were repaired and then given to people in Third World countries or something, but after speaking to someone who had actually been to a Third World country, I know that's not the case at all.

What actually happens to all of those Nokia 3210s is quite different. According to the United Nations, more than 40 million tons of electrical equipment ends up in the bin every year. However, one single ton of crap mobile phones contains 60 times more gold than a single ton of gold ore. And mobile phones don't need mining- they simply need taking apart and melting down so profits can be earned quickly, hence the rise of cash for phone companies.