Week 42 - Recycle Your Cell Phone

Christmas was a few weeks ago and I’m certain many people received new cell phones. As a result, there are likely several old phones laying around because you are not sure what to do with them. Well, you should recycle them! The Environmental Protection Agency has launched a campaign to get Americans to recycle their cell phones.


Why should we recycle cell phones?

1. According to the EPA, “the recycling of the 100 million cell phones ready for end of life management in the US would save enough energy to power more than 194,000 US households with electricity for one year“.


2. Recycling just a million cell phones reduces greenhouse gas emissions equal to taking 1,368 cars off the road for a year.


3. Using less energy means reducing greenhouse gas pollution.


4. We can keep valuable and potentially toxic materials out of landfills and incinerators. Cell phones are potentially hazardous waste because they contain lead, mercury, cadmium and arsenic.


5. We can conserve natural resources (like the metals mined for components).


6. We can help save Gorillas (huh?).

What can be done with the phones?

1. New customers can reuse them.


2. They can be taken apart and their components, such as gold, copper and plastic, can be recycled.

How can we recycle the phones?

1. Drop It Off

The obvious place would be where your purchased your phone, or with your service provider. AT&T, Best Buy, Office Depot, Sony, Sprint, Staples, T-Mobile and LG Electronics all offer a drop off service. Visit their websites for detailed information.

2. Mail It In

You can also mail in your old cell phone, PDA, cell phone batteries, chargers, or other accessories. Nokia, T-Mobile, Sprint, Motorola, Samsung, and LG Electronics have mail in programs. Again, visit their websites.

3. Donate to Charities

There are tons of charities that could use your old phone. Start with your community and check out what agencies would be happy to put an older phone (14 months old; the average age of a phone) to good use.

Earlier I mentioned how you can help save the African Gorilla. I was surprised to learn the manufacture of cell phones poses a threat to the Gorilla. An ore by the name of colian, which is used in cell phones, is mined in eastern areas of the Congo. The mining takes place in the middle of endangered gorilla and elephant habitats. According to the UN in the past five years, the eastern lowland gorilla population in the Congo has declined 90 percent. Fifty zoos across North America participate in a cell phone recycling program. It is their hope that by promoting the recycling program, less colian will have to be mined and as a result, more animals can be saved. The zoos gather cell phones at drop boxes and turn the phones over to ECO-CELL, which sells the phones to companies that refurbish and re-sell them to first-time users abroad. Some of the phones are also donated to senior citizens' centers and hospitals for discharged patients to use for emergency calls. Phones that cannot be re-sold are recycled. A complete list of participating zoos can be found at eco-cell.org. If you cannot get to a zoo, phones can be mailed directly to ECO-CELL where you can designate which zoo should receive the proceeds.

What you need to do before donating your phone

Before you drop off or mail in your old cell phone, make sure you have terminated your service contract and erased any data in the phone. To ensure personal information is cleared from the phone, you can:

• manually delete all information and remove the SIM card


• contact your service provider or phone manufacturer for instructions, or


• use a data erasing tool such as ReCellular's Cell Phone Data Eraser

There are many options for cell phone recycling. You can do some good not only for the environment, but for any number of charities too. Again, we have an easy change with many positive implications. If I haven’t said it before, I love it when that happens!