The US citizens discard around 130 million cell phones, less than 5% of which are recycled, totaling about 65,000 tons of waste annually.
“A typical phone contains materials like arsenic, zinc and lead, therefore throwing out old cell phones is not only wasteful, it’s dangerous. These materials can seep into groundwater or even end up in the air we breathe,” said Tim Ostrowski, vice president for Cricket Communications who is leading the company’s environmental efforts. “We at Cricket feel a responsibility to do what we can to help protect our environment and our communities. By making this recycling program simple and convenient we hope customers will partner with Cricket to do something good for the environment and help raise funds for Rebuilding Together.”
Cricket Communications has partnered with Rebuilding Together as a President’s Circle level national sponsor for 2009. Together they are focusing on issues of safety and homeownership among the elderly, the disabled, families with children and those impacted by the rising cost of living and falling social service budgets.
Around 50% of the cell phones collected by ReCellular are refurbished to near-new condition or otherwise processed for resale. Rebuilt phones are packaged and marketed to users in developing nations of the world where new phones are cost-prohibitive. The products that cannot be rebuilt are disassembled and responsibly recycled. No environmental waste goes to landfills, either directly or through intermediaries, making the process highly effective in reducing or eliminating solid waste.
Rebuilding Together is a nonprofit organization working to preserve affordable homeownership and revitalize communities.
