How to recycle or repurpose your cell phone

Don't put your worn-out cellphone phone in the trash -- it's probably filled with all sorts of toxic nasties. Here's how to hang up 'Old Faithful' the right way.

By

Chris Baskind

Thu, Apr 08 2010 at 11:00 AM

Related Topics:

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Green Technology, Phone Recycling, Lighter Footstep

CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW? Recycle your old mobile phone instead of trashing it. (Photo: kozumel/Flickr)

Cell phones are as much a fashion accessory these days as shoes or jewelry. That — and the planned obsolescence of changing technology — means you'll probably change your phone every 18 months to two years. That translates into a lot of potentially toxic e-waste.

PVC, lead, cadmium, arsenic, mercury and brominated flame retardants ... consumer electronics can be a witches' brew of substances you don't want leaching out of landfills and into your drinking water. Rather than thoughtlessly dropping that old phone into a nearby dumpster or hiding it in a desk drawer, recycle or repurpose it!

Recycle

Many large electronic stores, including RadioShack, Staples and Best Buy, feature handy drop boxes for unwanted phones and batteries. It's quite possible your cell phone vendor offers a take-back program. Call2recycle maintains a national database of drop-off centers.

Repurpose

Working or repairable cell phones can be a lifeline for seniors and women's shelters. These can be as close as a quick call to organizations listed in your local phone directory. The National Coalition Against Domestic Violence accepts phones by mail — as does the seniors' assistance group Phones for Life. You'll find a long list of organizations that will put your old phone to good use at the Electronic Industries Alliance's Consumer Education Initiative.

Finally, it's possible your local community sponsors electronic waste disposal and recycling. Check the government pages in your phone directory.

Respect your own privacy

Cell phones have largely replaced personal digital assistants (PDAs). That makes phones a rich target for unscrupulous identity thieves. Before surrendering a phone for recycling or reuse, delete all of your personal data and make sure it can't be used to access your wireless account. Remember: a cellphone can hold data indefinitely, even when the battery is dead.

Find out how to zero-out your particular cell phone model at WirelessRecycling.com.

See related MNN story: Phone recycling: It's easier than ever

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Comments: 2

Hermi14 May 10 2011 at 11:01 AM

You might also want to consider keeping the phone or PDA just for games that your baby and/or children can play. I'm doing that for my baby and am looking around for a support group/blog about repurposing small electronics for children's games--I may have to start one myself! The Palm Pixi currently being sold on Amazon for like $50 can apparently can be activated without service (http://forums.precentral.net/palm-pixi/273588-using-pixi-without-carrier...). I also have an old NEC MobilePro PDA that

.... More

I'm setting up for my one-year old (it's shaped just like a small laptop--half the size of a netbook, and she loves typing on it even when it's not turned on)--this uses the Windows CE operating system.