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eCycle Cell Phones
Did You Know?
Recycling one million cell phones saves enough energy to power more than 185 US households with electricity for a year.
Did you just get a new cell phone? Are you wondering what to do with the old one? Rather than adding it to your growing collection of unwanted mobile phones, recycle it!
In 2007, approximately 14 million Americans recycled their used cell phones. Today, donating or recycling cell phones, PDAs, chargers, and batteries has never been easier.
Donating your working cell phone or PDA can benefit 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 in need.
Click on image above to enlarge
Recycling 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 conserves these materials so they can be turned into new products.
Where Can I Turn in My Cell Phone for Donation or Recycling?
Cell phone collection programs can be accessed from almost everywhere in the US. Many organizations, such as cell phone manufacturers, retailers, network carriers, charities, and state or local solid waste programs offer cell phone donation and recycling programs.
Drop It Off
Drop off your old cell phone, PDA, cell phone batteries, chargers, or other accessories at one of the retailers or service providers below. Visit the links for detailed drop-off and collection event information.
Note: EPA does not
endorse the commercial services or products
of its Plug-In To eCycling partners. All the
previous links exit the EPA site  . |
||
Mail It In
Mail in your old cell phone, PDA, cell phone batteries, chargers, or other accessories at one of the retailers or service providers below. Visit the links for detailed drop-off and collection event information.
| Note: EPA does not
endorse the commercial services or products
of its Plug-In To eCycling partners. All the
previous links exit the EPA site . |
|
Learn More
- Before you drop off or mail in your old cell phone, make sure that you have terminated your service contract for the phone and erased any data in the phone.
- To ensure that personal information is cleared from the phone, you can: manually delete all information and remove the SIM card; contact your service provider or phone manufacturer for instructions; or use a data erasing tool such as ReCellular's Cell Phone Data Eraser
- Go to the CTIA-The Wireless Association's recycling program Wireless...The
New RecyclableTM
for additional tips to consider when recycling
your cell phone.
- Listen to EPA's podcast on cell phone recycling to learn what happens to your cell phone once it's recycled and hear answers to common questions.
- Recycle Your Cell Phone. It's an Easy Call (Flyer) (PDF) (1 pg, 433K, about PDF)