Shanghai has seen the appearance of boxes with the three colors of blue, green and orange for the reclamation of old mobile phones from which useful metals are expected to be taken.

The old mobile phones collected through these boxes will be handed over to professional companies. Those phones that can still be used after undergoing relevant processing will be sold at specific markets and those that can not be used or are likely to cause pollution will be recycled. With modern technology, at least 150 grams of gold, about 100 kilograms of cooper and three kilograms of silver can be taken from each ton of such reclaimed mobile phones.

According to Shanghai Mobile, about 3.2 million mobile phones and Little Smart phones are thrown out in Shanghai each year and this has posed a big threat to the city's environment. With a green initiative launched by Gome and China Electronic Chamber of Commerce, boxes with the colors of blue, green and orange are set in more than 1200 Gome and Yongle stores across China to recycle mobile phone accessories, usable mobile phones and unusable mobile phones, respectively. By delivering their old mobile phones to these boxes, consumers can receive coupons with which they can purchase their favorite mobile phones or accessories at these stores.