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What happens to my old cell phone after I upgrade? Do
the stores really recycle them or give them to the poor, or are they just
ending up in landfills? Where can I take mine to ensure that it is dealt
with properly?
As cell phones proliferate, they are giving computers
and monitors some competition for the dubious distinction of being the
largest contributor to the world’s growing e-waste problem. Indeed,
toxin-laden electronics are clogging landfills and polluting air and
groundwater supplies from coast to coast. The average North American gets a new cell phone
every 18 to 24 months, making old phones — many of which contain
hazardous materials such as lead, mercury, cadmium, brominated flame
retardants, and arsenic — the fastest-growing type of manufactured
garbage in the nation. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency, Americans discard 125 million phones each year, creating 65,000
tons of waste. Luckily, a new breed of electronics recyclers is
stepping in to help. Call2Recycle, a nonprofit organization, offers
consumers and retailers in the United States and Canada simple ways to
recycle old phones. Consumers can enter a ZIP code on the group’s Web
site and be directed to a drop box in that area. Most major electronics
retailers, from Radio Shack to Office Depot, participate in the program and
offer Call2Recycle drop boxes in their stores. Call2Recycle recovers the
phones and sells them back to manufacturers, which either refurbish and
resell them or recycle their parts for use in new products. The CollectiveGood organization takes used cell
phones, refurbishes them, and then resells them to distributors and
carriers for use primarily in developing countries, providing affordable
communications to poorer citizens while helping “bridge the digital
divide.” They also recycle all nonfunctioning batteries through a
partnership with the Rechargeable Battery Recycling Corp. When you donate
your phone to CollectiveGood, you can direct the profits from the sales to
a charity of your choice. Another player is ReCellular, which manages the
in-store collection programs for Bell Mobility, Sprint PCS, T-Mobile, Best
Buy, and Verizon. The company also maintains partnerships with Easter
Seals, the March of Dimes, Goodwill Industries, and other nonprofits that
undertake cell-phone collection drives as a way of funding their charitable
work. According to ReCellular vice president Mike Newman, the company is
trying to change attitudes about used cell phones, to get consumers to
“automatically think of recycling cell phones just like they
currently do with paper, plastic, or glass.
Neither the United States nor Canada mandates
electronics recycling of any kind at the federal level, but a few states
and provinces are getting into the act of their own initiative. California
recently passed the first cell-phone-recycling law in North America. As of
July 1, 2006, electronics retailers doing business there must have a
cell-phone-recycling system in place to legally sell their products, online
or in the store. Other U.S. states considering similar legislation include
Illinois, Mississippi, New Jersey, New York, Vermont, and Virginia, and the
Canadian provinces of British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and New
Brunswick are likely to jump on the mandatory cell-phone-recycling
bandwagon soon.
For more information:
Call2Recycle, www.rbrc.org/call2recycle; CollectiveGood,
www.collectivegood.com/index.asp; ReCellular,
wirelessrecycling.com/home/index.html.
Send questions to Earth Talk, care of E/The Environmental Magazine,
P.O. Box 5098, Westport, CT 06881 or e-mail earthtalk@emagazine.com.
This article appears in May 10-16, 2007.
