Though it would be nice if they had a get the old data off that dead phone and return to you process. (Which reminds me, I need to setup backups on my latest phone
It's difficult to see this being profitable. Or even possible, given the meagre training most carriers' employees at physical stores seem to have.
Easier: a device that shreds the phone onsite, in front of the customer.
A better play might be to liaise with phone repair shops both carrier-owned and independent, since they already do this as a matter of course, and it's quicker if you don't care what damage you do in the process. Lot of cats to herd, though, that would be.
Lithium-ion batteries can be safely shredded. You need to ensure they're discharged and/or shredded in an inert atmosphere [1].
[1] https://www.recovery-worldwide.com/en/artikel/efficient-and-...
Training is one thing, but the primary issue is wages and career prospects. Nobody working in a customer-facing role at a mobile carrier is paid enough to give a shit to do proper data protection - in fact they might be paid more by a malicious actor (bribery) to intentionally compromise data protection, just like it happens with fraudulent SIM swaps.
Given that most phone these days have non-removable batteries, can one really shred them safely? And wouldn't it make it harder to recycle if you can't isolate the various components?
It's not too difficult to destructively open phones to remove the battery and destroy the motherboard, but that requires some tools and know-how.
My local PC repair shop has a hard-disk destroyer that you can use to destruct your own drives. It's basically a lever-operated vice-crusher with a four-foot lever that you use to close the jaws. As soon as I discovered it I was able to destroy the hard drives that I'd been keeping in a bucket in my garage. The shop keeps the bits and manages the e-waste disposal. Bonus: it gives you an upper-body work-out
Don’t hand in your phone when there is any chance that data can be recovered.
If your phone can boot, wipe it.
If your phone cannot boot, remove the battery and then smash everything else into tiny little pieces with a hammer.
Open phone, snap off the pink, recycle the rest.
Medium value stuff is shredded into a big pile and then they leach the gold off it with cyanide. It has a much higher concentration of gold then raw gold ore.
Low value stuff is shipped to poor countries where the copper is extracted by burning and picking through the ash. Very toxic process.
I don’t trust any carrier to do this honestly or competently. And I don’t have the time to audit their process.
I also don’t care enough to do a secure wipe but would gladly take out the storage card and destroy it. That way I’m certain.
It’s not that it’s not possible. It’s that I don’t think it’s worth the work for a negligible benefit.