To many the idea of Earth Day is a bunch of hippies planting trees; to others it is a rock concert. Here at Action, it is a great opportunity for us to combine two of our favorite things: reducing waste in the landfills and helping one of our favorite charitable organizations, Cell Phones for Soldiers.
This is our second year hosting a cell phone collection on Earth Day. We chose Earth Day last year because it is a great time to take a minute and think about what we are putting into the landfills when we throw away a phone. Cell phones contain many types of toxic materials like lead, cadmium, nickel, and lithium. They also contain useful parts like silver, gold, copper, and plastics. Cell phones for Soldiers takes the phones that can’t be sent to a soldier or sailor and recycles the materials out of the phones. They make enough from selling those recycled materials to provide approximately $5 that equates to 2.5 hours of talk time. That talk time is a lifeline between our national heroes and their families.
Last year, Action had more than 500 phones donated during our Earth Day drive. I think we can collect more than that this year. Please stop by either of our locations and drop off your used cell phones or tablets. Pick up the form for your tax deduction. We’ll take care of the rest?
Can’t make it on Earth Day, don’t worry, we collect the phones all year long.
