This is just a portion of a large photo taken by photographer Chris Jordan. He has taken a lot of pictures regarding American Mass Consumption. It’s horribly mesmerizing that there is so much junk that he can take a series of photos about our trash and waste. The photos are beautiful but they speak loudly at our great amount of waste.
When was the last time you really thought about all your waste? Do you really think about your cell phone usage and that upgrade to the newest iphone or whatever version of cell phone that you upgrade to? What do you do with the last one. I once asked my sister if she ever considered it and she said, “we always pass our phones down”. So I asked her, what happens to that last one? She just shrugged her shoulders at me. Which meant, she didn’t really care and had never thought about it. She only thought about the fact that she thought she was doing something good because she handed her phone off to someone else, therefore making the problem someone else’s problem to think about.
What if you could recycle your phone and get paid for it too? I’m sure many of you already know about phone recycling programs. I’ve heard of them, like different cell phone recycling programs or making a cell phone donation to troops. There are a few, but I had never heard of Flipswap before. At Flipswap you can do a cell phone trade in for money donate it to charity, or trade it for a different one, and in the process you are reducing the waste on the planet. Flipswap will provide you with the shipping label so there is no cost to you making this donation. You print it out and slap it on your phone, it’s that easy.
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Louise – Thank you for spreading the word. Cell phone recycling rates in the U.S. really need a boost. According to EPA estimates, only 10% of cell phones were being recycled in 2007. One of the primary reasons for such low participation is lack of awareness. Many are unaware that their cell phones can be effectivley reused and recycled. Articles like this shine a sorely needed light on the issue. Another tool that I encourage readers to consider is a short video that Sprint recently produced with Outpost Worldwide. It can be viewed online. In under two minutes it frames the issue, illustrates how phones can reused and recycled, and shows how easy it is to take action. The video can be found at http://www.sprint.com/recycle. Forwarding a link of it to friends and family would be a great way to help raise awareness. Keep up the good work!
Darren Beck
Sprint Corp Social Responsibility
Twitter @DarrenBeck
I have donated a phone to the troops before. It felt good! That, and I’m reducing my carbon footprint by using an ANCIENT cell phone
they have some great programs for cell phone recycling here in my area from battered women shelters to many others this is a great idea to recycle what someone else can use
I donate my cell phones to the troops.