Words by Smiley Team
With the global number of phones growing five times faster than the human population, their prevalence has a significant environmental impact – especially when they are thrown away. One positive action you can take to tackle this is to donate used phones to charity.
Network providers such as Three and Vodafone offer ways to donate your unused phone a good cause. Alternatively, there are numerous charities that accept phones as donations.
While child labour is another major concern surrounding phone production, here is a selection of four brilliant children’s charities encouraging a more circular approach to technology while supporting young people in need.
Help young homeless people start creating more stability in their lives by donating phones and other devices to St Basils. This Birmingham-based charity provides vulnerable youths with accommodation and support to move on successfully after the traumatic experience of being homeless.
Poverty Child will not only accept donated devices, they also repair and sell them to finance the charity’s work supporting street children. They accept all kinds of gadgets, even ones with broken screens - they just need to be repairable.
Children’s charity Little Lives accepts donated phones or tablets which they distribute to schools, councils and refugee centres or sell to create more funds.
If your phone is slightly beyond repair, Child Aid offers a recycling service that raises money for the charity in the process. As well as mobile phones, they accept inkjet cartridges, unused cartridges, watches, jewellery, gadgets, game consoles, cameras and banknotes.
