Today there are 15 times more mobile phone users as compared to landline users. More than 470 million Indians (August 2009) now use mobile phones. In a way, mobile phones have become a necessity of everyday life. We use them to call our family, to conduct our day to day business or work, in fact today we use mobile phones for so many diverse activities that it was impossible to think about those just a few years back. But have you ever thought about how mobile phones are made and what happens to them when you don’t need them anymore? Like any product, making a mobile phone and its parts uses natural resources and energy, which can potentially impact air, land, and water. Understanding the life cycle of a product can help you make environmental choices about the products you use, and how you dispose of them. You can help minimise your environmental impact of using a mobile phone by recycling them or by donating them for further reuse.