Question of the Week: What did you do with your old cell phone?
Posted on April 6th, 2009 - 10:30 AMEach week we ask a question related to the environment. Please let us know your thoughts as comments. Feel free to respond to earlier comments or post new ideas. Previous questions.
Electronics such as cell phones can be recycled to reuse valuable materials and keep harmful substances out of the environment. April 6-12 is Cell Phone Recycling Week.
What did you do with your old cell phone?
Tags: cell phone
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Question of the Week
April 6th, 2009 at 10:42 am
Recycled it at the store where I purchased my new phone
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April 6th, 2009 at 11:01 am
Based on EPA’s “Where to Recycle Your Cell Phone” web page, I found out that Office Depot has a electronics recycling program. I stopped by on my way home, bought one of their boxes, and put all sorts of approved electronics in the box. Office Depot took care of the rest!
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April 6th, 2009 at 11:49 am
Gave it to my toddlers to play with. It’s one of their favorite toys.
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Matt reply on April 6, 2009 12:11 pm:
Marjorie, Kids love playing with old cell phones. You should still consider removing if not recycling the battery as it could pose a danger to children or pets (not to mention the environment).
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yvonne reply on April 8, 2009 10:20 am:
I took it to the t-mobile to recycle
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April 6th, 2009 at 12:53 pm
I always donate mine to charities who plan to reuse them for soldiers, battered women, or other groups who need avenues to communication. Most recently I donated my phone to a program that helps our vets returning from combat get back on their feet and reintegrated to civilian culture.
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April 6th, 2009 at 3:18 pm
I am still using my old cell phone and hope to be using the same one 10 years from now.
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April 6th, 2009 at 9:39 pm
Having teen kids, I have recycled more then I care to remember.
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April 7th, 2009 at 9:05 am
I collected a few from friends and my son’s old one, took them to be recycled. In the past, I threw them away…laziness.
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April 7th, 2009 at 10:27 pm
Can you imagine 80,000 tons of extra waste generated every year simply because of a small plastic device? Well this holds to be true because cell phones are one of the waste products that, unneccesarly fill up land fills. I try to avoid this problem by simply recycling my old phone as soon as i get my new phone. This way I am free of unwanted cell phone clutter! :)
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April 8th, 2009 at 9:58 am
We recycle them by turning them into a collection that goes to women’s shelters for emergency phones. The phones are checked over and given to women who need an emergency phone for medical or police assistance.
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April 8th, 2009 at 9:59 am
first of all, I use my phone as long as possible. so I have only had one to do something with over the years. My granddaughter is 9 and she takes pictures with it and plays with it. When she is done, it will go to the local recycling center.
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April 8th, 2009 at 10:08 am
I’ll submit it to the Recycling process
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April 8th, 2009 at 10:09 am
I give my older cell phones to needy people in my area who’s phones are even older…
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April 8th, 2009 at 10:13 am
I sent my old cell phones to Gazelle.com. They give you money in exchange for phones that still have some value. Those phones can be re-sold or given to people who need them. If it’s not of worth anymore (too old, missing parts, broken, etc.) they recycle it for you.
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April 8th, 2009 at 10:15 am
I sell it to the recycling people like these repairing shop.
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April 8th, 2009 at 10:30 am
I still have it and the one before it.
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April 8th, 2009 at 10:35 am
Does WasteStream have an electronics recycling program? I don’t have a place like office depot around where I live, but I have plenty of electronics including an old cell phone that have been filling up my closet because I can’t fathom throwing them in with regular garbage.
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April 8th, 2009 at 10:36 am
I brought it to the local domestic violence shelter for them to reprogram and give to shelter inhabitants.
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April 8th, 2009 at 10:56 am
My cell phone carrier accepts the old phone back and then donates them to a woman’s shelter.
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April 8th, 2009 at 10:56 am
I took them to the central library in Portland, OR for recycling.
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April 8th, 2009 at 11:21 am
I can’t remember where I got it, but I received an envelope (sponsored by some nonprofit) that allowed you to mail, free of charge, my old cell phones to soldiers in Iraq/Afghanistan so that they could receive phone calls.
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April 8th, 2009 at 11:31 am
A lot of electronics that are “recycled” end up being shipped overseas where they are taken apart for their valuable metals; many computers containing lead end up harming workers (often without proper protection) and polluting water and producing trash anyway. Tell our country to stop environmental injustice!
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April 8th, 2009 at 11:43 am
I´m from Colombia, in my country there is a company that has a program of recycle of old cell phone. company says to all people that we can carry our old cell phone and deposit it in a special container.
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April 8th, 2009 at 11:50 am
Verizon Wireless has a program called HopeLine. They recycle or refurbish the phones to donate to victims of domestic violence or shelters for domestic violence.
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April 8th, 2009 at 12:27 pm
I’ m from Brazil and There we have the opportunity to change the cell phone in the store that you had bougth it, with a discount to buy a new one. There are some appropriate locals to leave the former cell phone and batteries. After that it will be collected and recycled.
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April 8th, 2009 at 12:47 pm
I recycle my cell phones and other electronics at the recycling drop off events that are sponsored by our city.
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April 8th, 2009 at 2:51 pm
Donated them.
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April 8th, 2009 at 3:36 pm
sir i am pallav dwivedi from india. you ask about what did u do with your old cell phone. regarding that well i kept that in my lab & use for electronic circuit design how that chip is manufactured& how it will work when come in small size PCB.Basically its very importnat for every student to hold old phone to cultivate their mental prosporities & efficency..
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April 8th, 2009 at 4:32 pm
I donated my old cell phones to “Cell phones for Soldiers”.
I would never ever simply throw away any electronics. Those that are too obsolete for use, I take to solid waste facilities for proper disposal/recycling. Period.
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April 8th, 2009 at 7:53 pm
I actually got my old cell from my mom on my 15th birthday. I saved up enough money from two Christmas’s ago and bought myself a new touch screen cell phone. Then when my mom’s recent phone broke, she went back to using my old cell, until she goes and gets a new one.
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April 9th, 2009 at 6:30 am
Ive still got mine , its about 10 years old and still works fine.When it gives up the ghost ill recycle it.
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April 9th, 2009 at 7:19 am
Well, I used to change once or twice a year my cell device according cell gadget trends. An old habit tec of mine in a way. When time comes for the change I give the device as my old number as well to my relatives. They don’t have to buy a new one and by this I double the recycle effect I guess.
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April 9th, 2009 at 1:06 pm
I gave it to my sister who didn’t have a phone.
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April 10th, 2009 at 2:14 pm
I took the battery to the recycle bin. Drove there in my Cadillac Escalade.
The phone body itself, I doused in lighter fluid and set on fire to melt it. Then I threw the mess in the trash.
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April 13th, 2009 at 11:27 am
We had 4 old cell phones and sent them to a company that cleans them up, fixes anything that needs fixing and gives them to those that need phones.
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April 14th, 2009 at 12:42 pm
Our old phones go the YWCA Domestic Violence Shelter. Should be sending 2 in a couple of weeks, as ours are about done for.
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April 16th, 2009 at 1:46 am
We use it as a recharging station for our current cell batteries. We eliminated our house phone because it was cheaper for everyone to have a cell on our family plan and gave us contact at all times instead of just when someone was home. Instead of having a bunch of chargers plugged in all over frequently, we use the old phone to charge multiple batteries in just a few hours a couple times a week. As someone needs one they take from the charged pile 7 leave in the uncharged pile. We alternate who’s ‘in charge of charging’, and that person is responsible for changing out batteries within 10 min of each full charge until it’s done. It saves a surprising amount of energy over the course of a month.
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July 24th, 2009 at 10:10 am
As a Citizen of India, it’s my resposibility to keep the environment in balanced condition. For that i’ll work very hard day in and day out.
So I promise that if at all my mobile looks old to my eyes , I’ll definitely replace it with new Sony brand mobile that worths atleat 20 - 30 thousand. And i’ll give my old mobile for recycling.
Once agin Be proud to be Citizen of India.
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