On January 1, 2009 the state passed a law saying any person, firm, or corporation selling cell phones in Maine must accept used cell phones at no charge. They must port a notice clearly visable to the public saying; We accept used cellular telephones at no charge. They must also report the number of cell phones collected and how they were disposed of, reused, or recycled.
Like many other electronics with circuit boards and liquid crystal displays, cell phones contain hazardous substances like arsenic, beryllium, copper, lead, nickel, zinc and flame retardants. Collecting cell phones for reuse and recycling prevents the release of these substances to the environment and recycles material for use in manufacturing new products. Last year 82 locations throughout Maine helped recycle 48,229 cell phones.
| Wireless Service Provider | Number of Maine retail locations | Number of cell phones reported in Maine | Recycling program |
| AT&T Wireless (includes Cingular) | 8 | 22,639* | AT&T Reuse & Recycle |
| Rural Cellular Corporation(Unicel) | 44 | 15,317 | Unicel |
| T-Mobile | 2 | Report not yet received | T-Mobile “Huddle-Up” |
| U.S. Cellular | 13 | 511** | US Cellular |
| Verizon | 10 | 4094 | Verizon’s HopeLine |
| Unaffiliated retailers reporting | 5 | 5668 | various |
| Totals | 82 | 48,229 | |
2009 Cell Phone Report
http://www.maine.gov/dep/rwm/recycle/cellphonerecycling.htm
What about all of you old phones laying around my room, maybe we should do the right thing and take them to us cellular to be recycled.
ReplyDeleteIf recycling prevents the release of these substances to the environment and it is free then everyone should do thiss!!
ReplyDeleteI think it is a good thing that they have made a law to recycle cell phones. Phones make a lot of pollution.
ReplyDeleteThis is super cool. Cell phones do make a lot of pollution I totally agree with Kari.
ReplyDeleteI never realized how hazardous cell phones could be. It's good that we are able to recycle these products rather than just dispose of them, not even thinking about the pollution being produced.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if they can ever fix the cell phones and reuse them, which would make the companies very happy. Or even putting together different phones to make a cheap recycled one.
ReplyDeleteThere is actually a website where you can send in you used cell phone for money and they recycle it. The website is http://greenphone.com/. There are many ways to recycle, you just have to look! Just think about how many times you hear someone say "my phone is broken." The toxins in cell phones are very bad for the environment. That's crazy that almost 50,000 cell phones were recycled last year, very interesting Sarah!
ReplyDeleteSome places are now even paying to have you recycle you're cell phones. Everyone should do it whether you get paid or not!
ReplyDeleteIt's great that phones can be recycled! We all have tons of old phones laying around so we should help the enviornment and recycle them.
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