A couple in Ho Chi Minh City have dismantled old, broken cellphones for used components and even made cheap phones in working conditions from scrap electronic parts for over one year.

At Nguyen Thanh Chau’s home in Thu Duc District, thousands of used phones lie scattered on the floor.

Some are intact whereas others have scratches all over their bodies, or have their cases come off or missing.

Chau’s wife often hammers the phones with ease, before removing tiny screws with a screwdriver to dismantle the teeny electronic components and throwing them into a sack.

She has done the job together with her husband since nursing their baby more than one year ago.

“When we first did the job, the screwdriver pierced through our fingers and caused bleeding. Our fingers also got swollen from trying to remove the cases of the phones,” Chau recalled.

Now the man and his wife have grown so skillful at the tasks that they can perform them even with closed eyes.

Chau said that the scrap phones are collected from provinces as far as Thua Thien-Hue in the central region.

The couple collect and smash 3,000-4,000 phones a week.

Teeny electronic components, particularly chips, are sold for VND400,000 to 900,000 (up to US$42) per kilogram.

The cases are usually purchased by scrap dealers for VND3,000-5,000 (up to $0.2) per kilogram.

“There’re days when we stay up late until 3:00 am to cope with the large amount of scrap phones. Sometimes when I wake up in the middle of the night, my wife is still working,” he shared.

Chau sometimes comes across phones which are slightly damaged.

With skills as a maintenance staffer at a cellphone center, he uses the scrap components to make cheap cellphones in working conditions for low-income users.

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