At the cutting edge of environmental protection

Some of you may know that cell phone (or mobile) recycling is now a *major* business in the developed world (- playing on people’s sense of guilt of throwing things away which they know may be useful but are probably old, worn or no longer fashionable)…

I was therefore pleasantly surprised to come across this post which mentions how we (in India) are one step ahead than everyone else...

What sets these (emerging market) locations apart from cities in more ’emerged’ markets?

Aside from the scale of what’s on sale there is a thriving market for (mobile/cell phone) device repair services ranging from swapping out components to re-soldering circuit boards to reflashing phones in a language of your choice , naturally. 

Repairs are often carried out with little more than a screwdriver, a toothbrush (for cleaning contact points) the right knowledge and a flat surface to work on. 

Repair manuals (which appear to be reverse engineered) are available, written in Hindi, English and Chinese and can even be subscribed to, but there is little evidence of them being actively used.

…Delhi has the distinction of also offering a wide variety of mobile phone repair courses at training institutes such as Britco and Bridco turning out a steady flow of mobile phone repair engineers.

To round off the ecosystem wholesalers’ offer all the tools required to set up and run a repair business from individual components and circuit board schematics to screwdrivers and software installers. [ link ]

The next time someone berates us for being environmentally unfriendly, remember this post!

Find of the Day: 

“In Delhi, recycling has nothing to do with conscience. It is all about survival” from which this concluding excerpt: “…India has a recycling record that should be the envy of the West. Nothing is casually thrown away here. Nothing goes to waste, because the people simply can’t afford it….”

(somewhat) Related Posts:

On Nano, global warming, India and China 

Saving the planet by going vegetarian…