Each year, millions of cell phones are retired but I found statistics that say less than 1% of these phones are recycled. Granted I have only had three phones in my life. I more than likely would still have my last one if I didn’t drop it so I have not had many opportunities to experience the recycling of my phones.
The last time that I went to a retail store, I overheard many conversations of the salesperson asking if they could recycle their old phone. I have also seen a couple of drop off boxes in a few other retail stores as well as recycling information in the manual–but who reads that anyway? So I am a bit skeptical about the number of phones being recycled.
Either way, recycling your phone is always a good idea. If you don’t give it back to your provider, there are many different organizations that hold recycling events. The couple that I know of off hand are the battered womens shelter and Cell Phones for Soldiers.
Cell phones for soldiers takes Donated cell phones and sells them to a company that recycles them. The money received from recycling the cell phones is used to purchase calling cards that are sent to troops in need.
Do you know of any more organizations that recycle cell phones? What have you done with your old cell phone?
September 15, 2008 – 2:40 pm
If I had a nickel for every time that I have answered someone using a Bluetooth headset, I would be a multi-millionaire. It is a bit awkward at times, but honestly who talks to people on the phone in the bathroom anyway. Apparently a lot of people.
I also have a tendency of waving to people who are waving to somebody obviously somewhere behind me or somewhere a block away and then I try to play it off by pretending to scratch my head or something. But lets leave that our little secret.
Anyway, headsets are great (and in some states mandatory) when you are in the car but not walking down the street and definitely not in the bathroom. Most telephones come with their own wired headsets, so buying another wireless one really does not make sense. Just between you and me, I think that the wireless headsets make you look silly.
Many of these wireless headsets use batteries or are yet another gadget that needs to be charged. The batteries can contain lead, mercury and zinc and I really have enough invisible waves going through my body at this time. I don’t terribly feel comfortable adding any more.
August 18, 2008 – 9:15 am
Way back on Day 26, I talked about power strip parasites–chargers and other things that are plugged in but turned off and still suck power. Traveling over the past few weeks has been a challenge in terms of keeping my electronics charged.
In the past, I would have to bring a charger for each thing. It’s a real pain to unplug the few that I need, tote them around and then hook them all back up when I got home. Buying a car charger for each one really doesn’t make sense to me either.
When I bought my first cell phone many years ago, I spent about 20 dollars on a special car charger. When the phone finally broke, that immediately rendered the car charger obsolete. When I switched from my i-Pod Mini to my Video i-Pod, the same thing happened–I ended up with an obsolete car charger. I knew that there had to be a better way.
I normally don’t promote products, but I want to tell you about one that I stumbled across that I use on a regular basis. It is called a universal USB car charger.
Most of your electronics come with a USB cable that you can hook to your computer, but your computer needs to be on in order for your electronics to charge. For a couple of bucks, you can buy just the part that goes in the power port of your car and plug in the USB cable to the back of the plug. This way you do not need to buy a special car charger for each of your items or bring your charger with you when you travel.
I have a model that has one port, but I found one that can accept four devices. Instead of having your electronics charge off of the grid, you can have them charge off of your car. It doesn’t use any more gas or energy to charge your electronics off of your car.
Although I have not had any problems, I would suggest that you unplug your device when your car is off to make sure that it does not run down your battery.
