There are many people who don’t know what to do with old smartphones that they no longer use, so many people have them as collections at home.
Now an Israeli company has come up with a solution. It’s a vending machine that consumers can recycle, sell, or upgrade to a better, refurbished model. It aims to save energy, natural resources and mining-related environmental damage associated with the manufacture of smartphones, and to reduce end-use e-waste.
Founded in 2015, RE-Refurbished Smartphones Revolution currently offers a one-stop-shop machine available in 3 stores in Tel Aviv and 14 stores in Europe (Finland, Germany and Spain).
On Wednesday, the Israeli-made vending machine was showcased at the Climate Solutions conference and festival organized by Start Up Nation Central, KKL-JNF Jewish National Fund, and JNF Canada in Fulda Forest, Central Israel.
The machine is easy to use.
Enter your phone’s serial number so our system can verify that it’s yours, not stolen, and paid in full. is placed on the sensor pad and the artificial intelligence system verifies the claims about the smartphone are correct and offers a fee.
Notably, that figure can be significantly lower than the price of a cell phone on the second-hand market – half the price, sometimes less.
This reporter’s iPhone 12 was priced at NIS 1,090 ($308.50). For an extra NIS 2,010 ($600) and a 12-month warranty, you could have traded in a fully tested and unlocked 128 GB iPhone 12 Pro Max refurbished in mint condition.
A refurbished Smartphone Revolution Automat on display at the Climate Solutions Conference and Festival in Fulda Forest, Central Israel, October 26, 2022. From left: his Chief Marketing Officer Carmit Lev Solach, his CEO Itzik Chayun, development manager Mali Hadar and Supply chain manager Ido Maor. (Sue Sarks/Times of Israel)
According to Zap’s price comparison site (in Hebrew), the current price for this new model of iPhone ranges from NIS 3,805 ($1,077) to NIS 4,689 ($1,327).
An option is to replace the phone with a better model. In this case, the flap will open and swallow the phone to replace it with an upgrade. Or a vending machine swallows your phone and pays you right away. Bank transfer, PayPal, or — if you choose — a gift card.
According to developer Mali Hadar, all calls “captured” by the machine are sent to a laboratory where the content is “forensically erased” in accordance with the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation.
Phones in good condition are checked and offered for resale.
If repairs are required, they are sold to wholesalers for remanufacturing.
If it is too old or broken to be worthless, it is sold to Gaia, an Israeli metal and electronics recycling company, or a Polish recycling company for recycling.
According to RE’s website, if a customer regrets it, RE will receive a repaired phone within 14 days and issue a “no questions asked” refund.
Hadar said other companies have previously developed machines that accept the recycling of old cell phones, but RE is the first to also incorporate the buying and selling of old cell phones.
The Tel Aviv machines are located in the am:pm stores on Nordau and Allenby streets and the Shalom Meir Tower (Kol Bo Shalom) on Herzl street.
According to the company, an estimated 100-200 million mobile phones are discarded each year worldwide, and only a tenth are recycled. For every million smartphones recycled, 34 kg (75 lbs) of gold, 350 kg (772 lbs) of silver, 15 kg (33 lbs) of palladium, and 16,000 kg (35,274 lbs) of copper could be produced There is a nature.
Smartphones are made of 62 different metals that must be mined.
According to UNICEF, more than 40,000 children work in cobalt mines. Cobalt is an essential ingredient in batteries for mobile phones and other electronic devices.
