When you’re looking for a place to responsibly recycle your old mobile phones, it can be hard to determine where your cell phone is actually going and whether the recycling service is legitimate. Online scams that target consumers looking for smartphone and electronics recycling services are growing more prevalent, and we’ve compiled a few ways to identify recycling scams.
A Few Recent Recycling Scam Examples
In 2019, the founders of Washington’s largest state recycler, Total Reclaim, were sentenced to 28 months in prison. Known to everyone else as a reputable company, Total Reclaim handled e-waste from the City of Seattle, the University of Washington, and the State of Washington. The recycling company’s co-founders secretly shipped 8.3 million pounds of mercury-containing flat-screen monitors to Hong Kong while claiming to be an environmentally responsible company that properly disposed of hazardous waste. Workers in Hong Kong suffered the consequences of working with mercury while the co-founders earned about $7.8 million in profits each.
Another e-recycling company owner in Chicago recently pled guilty in a recycling fraud scheme, stockpiling e-waste before sending it to a landfill or shipping overseas. A legitimate mobile phone recycling business will either recycle eligible devices or responsibly collect materials while being transparent about where the cell phones go after collection.
What Should Consumers Be Looking Out For?
When looking for a legitimate e-recycling company, consumers need to be looking out for three things: credentials, certificates, and insurance backing. The leading global certification standard for the electronics reuse and recycling industry is the Responsible Recycling (R2) Standard. At Big Sky Recycling, all of our recycling partners are certified to the internationally recognized R2 standard. Additionally, they should adhere to NAID and NIST standards to ensure the secure destruction of your data.
Consumers should also look for companies that provide certificates of destruction. Take a look to see who is liable on the certificate for the disposal of electronics and data destruction to make sure the certificate is not fake. Big Sky Recycling provides certificates of data destruction upon request, provided you send an email or message before we receive your cell phone. Lastly, a legitimate e-recycling company will be backed by insurance.
Types of Smartphone Recycling Scams
Shipping Scams: In a shipping scam, the scammer will ask you to send the electronics to a different address than the one you previously agreed upon.
Phishing Scams: These scams attempt to steal your personal information by pretending to be a trustworthy party and attempting to steal your login credentials or credit card details.
Electronics recycling ATM: Electronics recycling ATMs are growing increasingly more common, offering payment for old devices. While not a scam per se, the machines can be fallible, either malfunctioning or having unreliable customer service.
In general, practice safe internet usage by using reputable platforms and being wary of unusual requests and demands.
Big Sky Recycling: Your Trusted Partner for Secure Phone Recycling
At Big Sky Recycling, we prioritize the security and protection of your personal data. We specialize in electronics recycling, and our recycling partners are all certified to the internationally recognized Responsible Recycling (R2) Standard, so you know your electronic waste is being handled responsibly.
Let us handle your secure e-waste disposal with our data destruction guarantee. Get started today.