The recent story of an unintentionally recycled iPhone has provoked a strong negative reaction.
Rob Wright’s partner, Anna Weald, dropped his brand new iPhone 4 into their recycling bin at home by mistake. As soon as Anna realised what she had done, she rang Rob, who quickly rang the waste company Veolia. The recycling lorry had not yet returned to the depot in Portsmouth and it was diverted to the section of the recycling facility where hand sorting takes place.
Staff painstakingly sifted through and kept ringing Rob’s phone to try and locate it but without success. They were just about to give up and rang one last time. The ringing phone was finally heard and located.
Rob’s gave the workers £50 to show his gratitude for their retrieving his brand new iPhone from being prematurely recycled. However, many people reading the story on the Mail Online’s website were unimpressed. A number commented that it was a waste of recycling staff’s time to be looking for a carelessly discarded mobile phone, given the backlog of waste that has piled up across the streets of Britain in the last few weeks.
Whilst this is a typical tabloid trivia story, it may raise the profile of mobile phone disposal in the minds of many and they may give more thought to what they do with their old mobiles. When Rob eventually does come to trade in his old iPhone 4, he will get the best price for it by visiting a mobile phone recycling price comparison site online and recouping the £50 he gave to the binmen.