Waste-Free Wednesday
Welcome to another edition of Waste-Free Wednesday! Last week, I wrote a post on recycling electronics and for today’s waste-free Wednesday I’d like to take a look at the recycling of one e-gadget in particular…the cell phone.
Apparently, it’s National Cell Phone Recycling Week (who knew?) which is a program sponsored by the Environmental Protection Agency in an effort to improve America’s pathetic cell phone recycling rates (which currently hover around 10%.) Like most electronics, cell phones are made from plastics and metals that wreak havoc on the environment when they find their way in to landfills.
According to the EPA, “if Americans recycled the 100 million cell phones that are no longer being used, enough energy would be saved to power more than 18,500 homes for a year. “
So if you’re in the market for a new phone, consider recycling your old phone to reduce your eco-impact. Even better, take it one step further by seeking out a refurbished cell phone that will not only keep an old phone out of the landfill, it will also save you a ton of cash in the process.
If you’re looking for a cell phone for your tween or teen, take a look at the refurbished models available from kajeet. This cool new service offers refurbished cell phones that come with lots of gadgets and gizmos to keep kids happy as well as great parental controls (like call and text limits, call blockers, and a GPS locator) that will ease a parent’s worried mind. Best of all, the phones keep and old cell phone out of the waste stream. To make them even more green, each phone comes with built-in green tips for teens (written by me!!) to help teens for green on the go.
