There are many reasons why you would get a new cell phone. From wanting the latest cell phone sporting new features and a stylish look to that mishap where you dropped your phone in the toilet and never worked the same way again.
With each new cell phone, the previous phone is set aside and left to collect dust. Or worse yet, they’re tossed in the garbage and taken to the city dump, adding to the trash pile unnecessarily.
Cell Phones Do Not Belong In Landfills
Don’t take those articles about throwing away your cell phone too literally like this one from Wired magazine’s blog. They merely give reasons why you should live without one, not throw it in the garbage.
When you throw away a cell phone or another piece of technology, it becomes electronic waste, or E-Waste. Recycling for Charities lists several environmentally damaging effects of cell phones and other electronic devices that end up in landfills. Lead in circuit boards and mercury in batteries are examples of toxic elements that should be disposed of in a safe manor.
Many of those elements can be reused. It won’t make you a hippie or a tree hugger to donate a cell phone just because it won’t hurt the earth.
Do Something To Feel Good About
That old cell phone may not do you any good when you get a new phone, but it doesn’t mean it is worthless. There are many charities and organizations that will make good use of old cellular phones that people no longer need or want.
Not only will you be helping keep the environment safe, you will be contributing to a good cause by donating something you no longer need. It’s a win-win situation. Donating a cell phone is also tax deductible. Not bad for donating something you didn’t need anyway.
Choose Your Charity At These Websites
Specific charities will most likely not have the resources to deal with donated phones themselves, but there are several websites that allow people to donate their cell phone and select a charity to donate the funds to.
These websites involve recycling of cell phones so that the components will be disposed of safely and the money generated is what is donated to the charity. Each website has instructions to either mail in the cell phones you wish to donate or find a designated drop box close by. Details on mailing cell phones and drop box location can be found on the website.
Charitable Recycling
Supported by The Wireless Source, Charitable Recycling will take used all cell phones and most printer ink cartridges for the purpose of recycling them. Whether you want to donate a small number of cell phones or start a fundraiser for a charity and collect a large number of phones, Charitable Recycling can help you out.
Charitable Recycling is Partners with notable charities such as:
- American Cancer Society
- Cystic Fibrosis Foundation
- Salvation Army
Collective Good
This mobile phone recycling website takes cell phones and refurbishes them to be low-cost alternatives to other countries. Any non-functioning phones and phone batteries are disposed of properly, following environmental standards. They recycle everything from the cell phones and their batteries to phone chargers and other accessories, reusing anything that can be reused.
If you donate your phone to Collective Good, you can select one of many charities including:
- The Humane Society of the United States
- Center For Domestic Violence Prevention
- Earthworks
Recycling for Charities
Taking more than just cell phones, Recycling for Charities will also take donated PDAs, digital cameras and iPods but toner and ink cartridges are no longer accepted due to recent market values.
Search Recycling for Charities by letter for a charity or go with one of these:
- American Foundation for Suicide Prevention
- Alzheimer’s Association
- Girls for Gender Equity
Websites with a Specific Purpose
The above are examples of websites you can submit your cell phone donations to a selected charity but they are not the only ones around. There are other websites you can donate your cell phone to with a particular purpose.
Cell Phones for Soldiers
This charity takes the donated cell phones and uses the money earned to buy prepaid cell phone cards to send to military personnel stationed overseas. It was started by teenagers, Robbie and Brittany Bergquist, when they heard of a U.S soldier stationed in Iraq who accumulated a large cell phone bill for calling home. They wanted to help out someone who chose to serve his country but it did not stop with that one soldier.
The old phones are sold to a company that recycles them and with over $1.4 million in raised funds, they have provided over 24 million minutes to soldiers overseas but hope to increase that number. The chance for a soldier to call home and talk to loved ones is priceless, worth far more than the trade in value of your old phone.
911 Cell Phone Bank
An organization set up in 2004 to provide usable cell phones for 911 emergencies. It also provides funds for law enforcement and services agencies participating in the program. It is important for everyone to have access to emergency phone numbers.
This organization takes donated cell phones uses them for emergency communications and to support law enforcement. When you donate a cell phone here, they assess each phone and split them into two groups. Cell phones of high value are sold for cash and lower value phones are added to the cell phones used for emergency 911 calls. Your phone does nobody any good, even yourself, sitting at home unused.
Think Food
The local food bank is always looking for donations to provide food for people in need. Think Food also accepts cell phones and printer cartridges for the dual purpose of keeping them out of landfills and selling them for funds to put toward feeding the hungry.
Unlike the other websites, I was only able to find a drop off location section. There was no option to mail in your phone but you can search drop box locations by province or postal code. With partners such as Purolator and Rogers Wireless, there is a good chance a drop box won’t be far away.
ReCellular
This website takes donated cell phones and finds the best use for them. From ReCellular, you can buy, sell or donate used cell phones. They also have instructions on how to delete the personal information from your phone before you donate it. Select your make and model and you will get the instructions you need to clear that sensitive data.
Just like Think Food, when you try to donate a phone, they only give you drop box options based on your zip code. It will give you all locations near that zip code but you can also narrow it down to drop boxes supplied by their partners.
Are they legit?
Whatever charity you do choose, just be sure to do some research into the charity of choice before donating. It could be a carefully set-up scam to prey on compassionate people. Don’t risk regretting your decision in a chance that your charity of choice turns out to be a scam. Ensure the charity you plan to donate to legitimate.
Do the research to make sure the charity has a good history and no complaints have been made to the Better Business Bureau about them. Many people can claim to be working for a particular charity and ask for donations on their behalf only to pocket the money for themselves.
Consumer Affairs notes a particular cell phone scam in Oklahoma. A couple collected 100,000 phones from a number of sources and states for battered women but only donated a small portion of those phones to charity. They were later sentenced to jail for multiple charges of fraud.
Just do-nate it
Whether you decide to donate to one of the above charities, or another of your choice, you know it will be put to good use. Before donating your phone, make sure you remove all your personal information from your phone and have your service cancelled ahead of time. There are several websites with information on how to delete your personal information for many makes and models of cell phones.
I have an old cell phone just sitting at home. It’s time for me to pick a charity and practice what I preach.
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