Most people toss their old cellphones into the trash or put them away in a drawer and forget about them. But two new organizations have programs that recycle or refurbish the old clunkers to help charities and protect the environment.
By Elena Sosa Lerín
Posted: Nov. 9, 2004
115 million cellphones were purchased just by North Americans in 2003. Between 70 and 80 per cent were bought to replace all models which ended up tossed away and forgotten. Photo: Elena Sosa Lerín
Cell phones are so important to Bill Murphy's business that he supplies 25 of his 40 employees with new ones every two years.
"Immediacy it's the norm of this business," says the president of Cossette Communication Group a large marketing firm.
Murphy's company re-uses old cellphones when it can. For example, when Murphy recently exchanged his old cellphone for a new BlackBerry wireless mobile he gave the old model to another worker. Often he gives old cellphones to his wife and daughters. But if the company can't use them, it throws them away.
Murphy and his employees are part of the 14 million Canadians who own a cellphone and change it every 18 months or two years. This number is expected to increase by 50 per cent in 2005, reports the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association.
Most of the millions of cellphones that are replaced every year either collect dust in a drawer, or end up in a landfill. A Wireless Week reader poll early this year shows that 62 per cent of North Americans prefer to store their old cellphones rather than recycling them. Nova Scotia's Environment and Labour Minister Kerry Morash stated in a press release that around 5,000 tons of electronic junk are annually dumped in the province's landfills.
Now Canadian companies and consumers can get rid of their old gadgets without harming the environment and helping charities. With non-profit organizations like Charitable Recycling (CR) and Rechargeable Battery Recycle Corporation (RBRC), cellphones have a life beyond the drawer and the landfill.
Keeping a cell number and switching carriers may have made life easier for many, but the environment is threatened by the amount of waste and toxic substances cellphones create. Photo: Elena Sosa Lerín
Call2Recycle is a RBRC's program that recycles rechargeable batteries which are commonly found in cordless power tools, cellular and cordless phones, laptop computers, camcorders and digital cameras.The American organization launched this program in Canada this October in Dartmouth with the support of hockey legend Guy Lafleur. But they're starting to recycle cellphones too.
"Our primary goal is to collect and recycle more rechargeable batteries," says RBRC's executive vice-president, Ralph Millard. "But an added benefit is the ability to provide a solution other than landfill for the growing number of cellphones no longer in use by Canadians."
Call2Recycle has set up plans to make recycling easier. More than 4,000 retailers, communities and public agencies will have collection boxes for consumers to drop off rechargeable batteries and cellphones.
Since June 2003, CR has been working to set up facilities nationwide and encouraging people and businesses to turn over their old cellphones. CR accepts any used cellphone, regardless of age and condition. For every cellphone that it receives, it donates a dollar to charity. Cellphones are refurbished, or if they're in really bad shape, they're recycled.
Refurbished phones are donated to shelters for abused adults and children so they may have access to 911 services. Often cellphones are given to patients who are awaiting organ transplants. Also, many of the phones are sent to developing countries where there aren't any landlines or where it's expensive to get a new phone.
Wendy Weiss, CR's program director, says some challenges for most recycling companies are letting people know that the service exists and providing ways to make it easy for people to donate their old cellphones "People do really want to dispose of their old phones in a responsible way," she says, "but it needs to be convenient, or it won't happen."
Murphy, after learning about these recycling programs, said he'll discuss with his cellphone company the possibility of donating the old cell phones to any of these organizations.
"It's good to be aware of these programs," he says. "It's good to know that there are better options other than tossing away your cellphone."
Talking trash
A toxic cocktail
When cellphones are tossed into dumps they leach into soil and drinking water a cocktail of toxic materials. Of greatest concern are:
Cadmium
Lead
From Waste in the Wireless World - Toxicity of Cell Phone Waste Report
Feedback
Email
Print