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Best Buy Answers Recycling Call
Calling all cell phone shoppers! Your old cell phone doesn't need to be destined for the trash can. Best Buy will take them. Best Buy, one of EPA's Plug-In To eCycling partners, is rolling out a new prepaid mail-in cell phone recycling program at more than 730 participating Best Buy stores across the country. For each cell phone mailed in, Best Buy will contribute $1.00 to the Boys and Girls Clubs of America.
The envelopes are given to customers when they purchase a new cell phone. All mailed-in used phones are sent to ReCellular, Inc., Best Buy's official cell phone recycling partner. ReCellular will either refurbish and resell the unit or disassemble and recycle it. Best Buy will take all cell phones, regardless of make or condition.
"More than 100 million cell phones will be retired in the US this year — sadly, only a small percentage will be recycled," said Brenda Mathison, Director of Environmental Affairs at Best Buy. "Responsible recycling and reuse of cell phones is extremely important. Donating used phones through our new mail-in program is a true win-win situation for everyone, and we strongly encourage our customers to participate."
Recycling cell phones isn't a new concept to Best Buy. The company has had permanent recycling kiosks in most stores since 2003. Located in the store's front entry, shoppers may recycle cell phones, pagers, ink and toner cartridges and batteries at these kiosks.
Cell phones contain materials that can be recycled. Reusing and recycling cells phones is the best way to conserve valuable resources and prevent environmental impacts of improper disposal.
Launched in January 2003, EPA's Plug-In To eCycling is a public private partnership working to increase the number of electronic devices collected and safely recycled in the United States.
For More Information:
- Plug-In To eCycling - EPA's partnership program to increase safe recycling of electronics
- eCycling - EPA's Web site on reusing or recycling of consumer electronics
- The Life Cycle of a Cell Phone (PDF) (2 pp, 648K, about PDF) | en Español: El ciclo de vida de un teléfono celular (PDF) (2 pages, 540K, about PDF) - Poster depicting the life cycle of a cell phone
- Wireless Recycling.com
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Learn more about Best Buy's Mail-in Recycling Program