Unfortunately, the largest environmental benefits of cell phone reuse and recycling lie precisely in their potential to displace the new production of handsets and precious metals.
In a different paper, which assesses the environmental benefits of cell phone reuse and recycling, we argue that displacement rates for cell phone reuse and recycling are the single most important factor in the environmental performance of these closed-loop supply chains yet are currently unknown (Geyer R, Doctori Blass V.
The role of displaced production for reuse and recycling: the example of cell phone end-of-life management. J Ind Ecol, under review).
Most experts believe that displacement rates of secondary metals are likely to be very high, while those of cell phone reuse are likely to be very low.
This could mean that the actual environmental benefits of cell phone reuse are lower than those of recycling, which would be a reversal of the conventional wisdom that reuse is environmentally preferable to recycling. To settle this issue, more research is necessary to establish robust estimates for the respective displacement rates.