Waste Reduction Week is here
Time for a new cellphone? Get your school involved and give your old wireless devices a new life by getting them into the recycling loop.
The third annual Recycle My Cell Student Challenge launched at the beginning of Waste Reduction Week on October 15th.
Students across Canada are challenged to recycle as many old wireless devices and accessories as possible between October 15 and November 15, 2012.
You’ll be doing good for the environment and keeping electronic waste from landfill. You could also win $500 for your school to use for green initiatives!
The Recycle My Cell Challenge is open to all schools and post secondary institutions across Canada. You’ll be provided everything you need to set up a Recycle My Cell collection site.
All you need to do is collect as many cell phones, smartphones, wireless PDAs, pagers, batteries and accessories as you can and ship them. Even the shipping is free!
Registration is quick and easy so register your school today.
Your cellphone may be outdated, but much of it can be recycled or sold for reuse. At the Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver, the gold medals contained 1.52 percent gold recovered from recycled electronic devices.
Here are some more facts about electronic waste:
- electronic devices contain tiny amounts of precious metals in the motherboard or printed circuit boards including gold, palladium, silver and copper
- recovered metals are used in jewellery, plating, electronics, and automobiles
- plastics are recycled into components for new electronic devices or garden furniture or hoses, licence plate frames, non-food containers, and automotive parts, and
- clothing and furniture designers, as well as artists around the world, are using recycled materials in their work
