Recycle Your Phone!
How many old cell phones do you have? What are you saving them for? Not sure how to dispose of them, right? There are over 200 million active cell phones in the US alone and more than twice that number that are no longer in use but not yet disposed of. Millions of phones waiting to be thrown away! This number will rise in future years with the advances in cell phone technology and the cost to replace or upgrade being a better deal than cost to repair. What are we going to do with all of these phones?
Most cell phones can be repaired and refurbished barring major damage. They can then be put back into use thus reducing the number of new phones needed, raw materials mined and pollution emissions released from manufacturing. Working phones are often donated to organizations who provide them to people who need them like women and families threatened with domestic abuse.
When phones are too damaged to be repaired recycling is a better choice than throwing the phone in the trash and having it end up in your local landfill. The recycling process reuses most of the parts keeping the hazardous electronics and heavy metals from accumulating in landfills – including the landfills in your community. Waste from electronics is the source of over 75% of the toxins in municipal landfills. These toxins and heavy metals seep through the ground and contaminate groundwater and surrounding ecosystems.
SO, find a donation bin at Office Depot, AT&T, Best Buy and others as listed on www.recellular.com/recycling/index.asp Check out the fundraising potential in starting your own collection program at Click Here!. The more cell phones we keep in circulation and out of the landfills, the better.