Retail

Asda teams with musicMagpie on recycling mobile phones

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November 9, 2022

Asda, the U.K. supermarket chain, has partnered with musicMagpie, a U.K. based service that recycles electronic devices, to install kiosks where customers can dop off mobile phones in return for cash, according to a metro.co.uk report. The SmartDrop kiosks have been installed in 290 stores.

More than £7 million ($7.97 million) has been paid to customers to date, with 25,000 phones having been traded in at an average price of £273 ($310.66) over the past 12 months.

The kiosks display a valuation for a customer's phone. The customer can then post the phone to the kiosk and have the funds deposited in a PayPal account.

Electronics such as phones contain useful copper, cobalt and lithium, along with lead, which is potentially hazardous if put in landfills.