August 18, 2007
Recycle your old cell phone
I’m still laboring away at my clutter problem. Obviously, I’m not working at it hard enough or it would all be gone, but still, I’m working on it. I’ve been going through my office files this weekend. I keep two years of paper files in my office file cabinets, three years archived in file boxes, and I shred and dispose of anything older. Today I’ve been culling the file cabinet for files to move to archives. Every time I take a break I scan around the office for other things I can get rid of. Do you remember that I recently boxed up eight or ten office phones and set them out for the charity truck? Today I came across the two old cell phones that I had intended to give to the women’s shelter out here on the coast, but it had turned out that they can’t use them. I know you shouldn’t just dispose of electronics in rubbish that will go to the landfill. My service provider isn’t interested in a trade-in when you upgrade and doesn’t offer to recycle your cell phone, so it’s left up to the consumer to decide what to do with their old cell phones. I think most people toss them in a dusty corner and forget about them (I’m not the only one, right?)
So what are you supposed to do with old cell phones if you can’t throw them out and the provider won’t take them back? CellForCash.com has a practical answer. They pay cash rebates on over 600 models of cell phones. Just look for your manufacture and model number in drop down boxes and you’ll be told instantly what your cell phone is worth. Ask them for a postage-paid box, mail you phone back to them and they’ll send you cash. Less clutter plus a cash payment - that sounds good to me! If your phones are very old like mine and have no cash value, that’s okay, too. CellForCash has information on local recycling options and charity sites that accept cell phones. I just discovered that several local charities here need cell phones and - would you believe it? - my bank will recycle it for me.
If you’re asking yourself “Why should I recycle my cell phone?,” there are some things you should know. It’s a fact that cell phones leach hazardous levels of lead when disposed in landfills, but that’s just part of the problem. Cell phone circuit boards can contain arsenic, beryllium, copper, mercury and other toxic chemicals. The flame retardents in the plastic housing, wiring boards and cables contain toxins, too, and cell phone batteries - yep! - more toxins. These toxins can contaminate groundwater when they get into landfills, and cause air pollution when burned. Improper disposal is even against the law in some areas of the US. The State of California and some areas in Washington and New York have made it illegal to dispose of cell phones in landfills. California, New York and Maine have laws requiring retailers to provide recycling services for cell phones. Whether mandated by law or not, we need to do the responsible thing. CellForCash makes it easy.
[tags]cell phones, environment, recycle cell phones, recycling[/tags]
Posted by skeet @ 2:21 pm • Environment, Electronics
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August 19th, 2007 at 9:14 am, Cynthia Blue Says:
At work we have a display with bags on it, and you can put your old cell phone into the back and, supposedly, it goes to a recycle place. I just did that a month or so ago with my old phone.
August 21st, 2007 at 7:54 am, skeet Says:
Cynthia, when my service carrier wouldn’t take my cell phones back as trade-ins, I pretty much tossed them in a closet and forgot about them. Recycling makes a lot more sense.