Newport Computers in Rochester in the United States is staging an event designed to allow people to hand in their old cell phones and other electrical items to be recycled in honor of the upcoming annual Earth Day. Items such as used cell phones, computers, video games, digital cameras and MP3 players, which would normally cost around ten dollars to dispose of at the local landfill, can be handed in for recycling free of charge from ten o’clock in the morning on Wednesday up until four o’clock in the afternoon on Friday.

Leading names in the electronics industry have joined forces to launch a unique recycling initiative for electrical items, including old cell phones. Panasonic became the latest big name company to join the initiative, which aims to have reached a goal of recycling more than a billion pounds worth of electrical equipment per year, including used cell phones, by the year 2016, a number that would be more than three times the figure recorded for such recycling as of 2010.

Visitors to the Topeka Zoo can party for the planet by bringing in their old cell phones for recycling this weekend. This Saturday, the Zoo is staging its annual “Party for the Planet” event, which is the biggest combined Earth Day celebration in the whole world, with over 120 of the most rated aquariums and zoos throughout North America joining forces for the celebration. The “Party for the Planet” event is designed to celebrate wildlife and encourage visitors to the zoo to learn more about the natural environment and conservation.

Kalianna is a not for profit organization in the Murray Basin region of South Australia, and is devoted to helping disabled people. Kalianna also offers an electronic recycling program intended to give new life to old cell phones, as well as other electrical items such as computers, photocopiers and televisions.

Six companies have been declared to be honorary recycling champions due to their efforts in recycling old cell phones and other electrical goods via the fundraising recycling program known as the FundingFactory.

“In the spirit leading up to Earth Day, we are celebrating some of our top recycling partners and applauding them, and other participants like them, for their efforts,” says the FundingFactory president, Sean Michaels. “We congratulate these champions for what they’re doing for their communities and their nation via this effort.”

The Chattanooga Zoo in the United States is offering free tickets for children in return for help with their cell phone recycling scheme. Anyone dropping off an old cell phone at the zoo’s gift shop during the week of the 16th to the 22nd of April will receive a free ticket for a child. The used cell phones are being collected in a bid to help conservation efforts at the Goualougo Triangle Ape Project, which is operating in West Africa. The Project is attempting to enhance local protection of the habitats of both gorillas and chimpanzees in the country.

Butler County in the United States is offering its citizens the chance to recycle their old cell phones and other electronic goods. This coming Saturday, the county is staging a recycling event as a way of disposing of used cell phones and other unwanted electrical items as part of what is intended to be an ongoing scheme, with similar events to be held on every second and third Saturday of the month from now up until the end of September.