Amarjit Singh

You can now trade in your old phone and get cash back regardless of its age, the condition it is in, or the make and model. It may be a few pounds to a three-digit figure, but one way of the other you can profit from your old gadgets. We are all used to recycling plastic bottles, cardboard packaging, and placing our old spent batteries in the tubes located in stores up and down the country.

Old mobile phones are valuable because they can be resold on the second-hand market or, if they have seen better days, harvested for the spare parts. How many people do you know who have cracked the screen, damaged the key pad, or the phone has stopped functioning altogether? If you know someone in that situation, then you're in the majority, for most of us have at some point damaged or broken a mobile phone beyond repair.

If you sell Nokia 5230 or other handsets for cash to a recycler, you are enabling another to benefit from your actions. If the phone is in good condition, it can, with a little servicing, be resold to someone who, for one reason or another, is unable to afford the cost of a brand-new handset. On the other hand, there are thousands of people who will not pay for a new handset again for many reasons.

Alternatively, if your old handset is in pieces or has seen better days and is not functioning, it is more than probable that spare parts can be harvested and re-used in other handsets, thereby giving them a new lease of life.

If you are selling to a legitimate dealer, they will wipe the phone of any sensitive data that may still be on it. All dealers and recyclers have to be registered with the Data Commissioners office and have the appropriate tools to comply with the provisions of the Data Protection Act. Furthermore, they also have to be licensed by the Environment Agency to be able to collect, handle, recycle, and dispose of electronic equipment.

The reason for this is that mobile phones and 99 percent of all electronic and electrical equipment are designated as hazardous waste as a result of the Waste and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) legislation. These changes, combined with the flood of new handsets entering the market every year, mean you can profit. It isn't often that consumers benefit from new legislation; usually, it entails some form of new tax or other. With this new legislation it is, for a pleasant change, the other way around. Now, off you go and get some of that lovely loot.

Graham Green is a freelance writer and gadget groupie and has recently been investigating how consumers can sell Nokia 5230 handsets and others to make a little money on redundant technology.