Recycle Your Cell Phone. It's An Easy Call. Old cell phones? Don't trash or stash them—Recycle! Did you just get a new cell phone? Are you wondering what to do with your old one? Instead of stashing it—recycle it! Recycling or donating unwanted cell phones, PDAs, chargers, and batteries has never been easier. The Environmental Protection Agency's Plug-In To eCycling program has teamed up with leading cell phone and PDA manufacturers, network providers, and retailers to offer thousands of convenient recycling drop off locations. Why Recycle Protect Your Environment: Recycling or donating cell phones helps the environment by saving energy and keeping usable materials out of landfills. Cell phones and PDAs are made of precious metals, copper, and plastics—all of which require energy to mine and manufacture. Recycling not only conserves these materials, but prevents air and water pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. More than 100 million cell phones are no longer used annually. If we recycled all of them, we would save enough energy to power 194,000 U.S. homes for a year. Help Others: Donating your working cell phone or PDA also benefits your community. When cell phones and accessories are in good working order, some programs donate them to worthy charities or sell them at a discount to those who need them. PLUG-IN TO CLING U.S. EPA Prepare for Recycling Three things to remember: • Terminate your service. • Clear the phone's memory of stored information. • Conduct a factory hard reset by following instructions from your wireless carrier or the product manual; or • Use data erasing tools that are available on the Web. • Remove your SIM card. For more information, contact your network provider, cell phone manufacturer, or the recycling program you plan to use. Where to Recycle Drop off or mail in: Cell phone recycling programs can be accessed from almost everywhere in the United States. Many organizations, such as cell phone manufacturers, retailers, network carriers, charities, and state or local solid waste programs offer recycling for unwanted cell phones. The Plug-In To eCycling partners highlighted below have programs that allow you to drop off or mail in your old cell phone, regardless of age or model. at&t LG NOKIA Sony Ericsson T • -Mobile •• Office DEPOT. Sprint^ Identifying locations for mobile device recycling does not constitute EPAs endorsement of the products or services of our program partners. ReCYCLE YOUR CELL PHONE easy call To learn more, go to www.epa.gov/cellphones ------- |