Not many people today keep one mobile phone for their entire lives. There are too many new features and applications being added on a near-daily basis to mobile phones. The urge to constantly upgrade to newer and better mobiles is simply too strong. That’s where mobile phone recycling comes into play.

If you don’t recycle your old mobile phone, the odds are good that you’re doing one of two things with it: You’re either tossing it into the back of your closet, under that pile of papers on your desk or in a box in your basement. Or you’re dumping it in the trash.

Neither option makes much sense. For one thing, you can recycle your mobile phone and turn it into quick cash. For another, recycling your mobile phone is the environmentally friendly thing to do.

If you decide to recycle your old, no-longer-wanted mobile phone, you have two main options: You can donate it to a local charity or non-profit agency. Or you can send it away to a private company that recycles mobile phones and sends cash to the phones’ previous owners.

Neither way is right or wrong. Your decision on which option to pursue depends entirely on your own situation.

For instance, if you’re short on money you can sell your phone for cash, you may decide to work with a private recycling company. This is an easy process: Log onto your computer and type in the words “mobile phone recycling” and you’ll pull up the home pages of dozens of companies that recycle or refurbish old mobile phones.

You can then select your phone from the company’s Web page and either accept or deny the offer the company makes for that mobile. If you accept, the company will send you a padded envelope. Simply mail your old mobile phone back. The company will then send you your agreed-upon payment.

If extra money isn’t your priority, you might consider donating your used mobile phone. You’ll still be keeping it out of a landfill, and you’ll be doing a bit of extra good, too.

Many municipalities run their own special recycling days when they’ll pick up discarded consumer electronics equipment, including old mobile phones. Often, these municipalities will then donate these phones to non-profit agencies or charities.

You can also contact charities directly to see if they have any need for unwanted mobile phones. After all, there are plenty of people that they serve who could use a functioning mobile phone.

The key, though, is to find a reputable charity. Be sure to work only with charities that provide references. You might also run an Internet search to see if the charity you are considering donating to has had any recent legal problems or complaints filed against it.

Whether you donate your old mobile phone to a non-profit or send it to a private recycling company, you should know that you are doing a great service to the environment.

More than 60 million old mobile phones end up in landfills across the country every year. And not only do these phones take up valuable land, they also leak chemicals into the soil, potentially dangerous ones such as cadmium, lithium and mercury. These chemicals can then end up in local rivers, streams and creeks.

Recycling your unwanted mobile phones is a simple and quick task. It’s also the right thing to do. So don’t simply throw that old phone in the garbage, and don’t lose it somewhere deep in the recesses of your house. Do the smart and environmentally friendly thing and recycle that old mobile phone.