But is getting the latest gear all that necessary? While it may be more useful, older technology can still get the job done. Sure, it may be slower and less efficient as then the newer model but, once you get the new one the old becomes E-waste and can leach toxic elements into water systems as it corrodes. The production of phones also uses rare earth metals that are precious and valuable, when those phones get thrown away without being recycled the metals are thrown away with it. So if we can use our old phones and keep them until they don't work anymore then we can save our resources and prevent unwanted contamination.