Last updated April 12, 2019
Canadians are being called upon to donate their old cell phones for recycling as part of Earth Week 2011. The campaign is being spearheaded by the country’s cell phone recycling program, Recycle My Cell, which is available to all citizens completely free of charge. Recycle My Cell has a website available in two languages – English at RecycleMyCell.ca and French at recyclemoncell.ca – where customers can find the drop off location nearest to them just by entering their zip code. If they are for some reason unable to reach one of the 3500 drop-off points located across the country, the site also offers printable postage paid labels, to allow people to mail their used cell phones in to be recycled instead.
The campaign also offers benefits beyond just the obvious environmental advantages too, having been able to raise more than a million Canadian dollars for various charitable organizations over the course of the last two years.
“There is no reason whatsoever that a cell phone should ever end up in one of Canada’s landfills,” says Bernard Lord, the president and chief executive officer of the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association, which is working with both wireless carriers and cell phones manufacturers that have come together to encourage Canadians to begin cell phone recycling. “The wireless industry and its customers have proven that a ‘no cost to the consumer’ formula for the responsible management of e-waste not only exists, but is thriving.”