Phone Recycle in Japan

Mobile phone collection boxes like this one can be found in places like convenience/electronic department stores for folk to drop off their unwanted mobiles. Mobile phone manufaturers want your unwanted phones because of the recyclable material they are able to extract. In 2005, Docomo (carrier and manufacturer) was able to extract 37,993 Kilos of copper and 145 Kilos of gold from old mobile phones.

The main reasons for the decline of hand-ins are due to the beefed up features that the phones come with. Even without a contract, one can still use their phone for watching TV, listening to radio/MP3 tunes, playing games and most importantly - use to wipe ones bottom on.

Another reason why hand-ins are on the decline is because users said that they want to keep data like mail, phone numbers etc in their previous phone.

As for me, my first retired mobile was a Docomo phone which I gave away. The second one served me well at Amazon as I could use it in and out of Japan but everything else about it was crap - it ended up in the bin.

Had a Blackberry when I was in Seattle for 5 months - still got it but will bin it during the next spring cleaning session - unusable in Japan.
The phone you see in this photo is my current W41CA by Casio. The screen is nice n bright and it comes with a browser so that I can check the site when on the move and log into my gmail account - will probably end up keeping it as an emergency camera. Wont be getting a new phone until the iPhone hits Japanese shores - lord knows when that will be.

What do you do with your retired mobile phone? Give it away, throw it away (or at someone) or sell it?