Cell Phones For Soldiers

The other day I got a wild hair and decided to clean out the junk drawer in the kitchen. When I did I found 2 or 3 of Mr. K's old cell phones. On top of this, I know we have a few more lying around. Truthfully, I don't know why we even kept them, but they seem like something you don't just throw away...so they stay.

One of my new campaigns is to get things done. I think if Mr. K took an entire month off, we still couldn't get all those little things done. But, I thought if we made a huge ridiculous list that we could plug away at it a little at a time.

Back to the cell phones.

These old useless cell phones have now made it to the list. Find something to do with them.

I started searching the internet for information on recycling old cell phones. The first stat I found was that I wasn't the only one with such a pile. There are 500 million old cell phones lying around waiting to be thrown away.

Cell phones and accessories are made from valuable resources such as precious metals, copper, and plastics - all of which require energy to extract and manufacture. Recycling cell phones reduces greenhouse gas emissions, keeps valuable material out of landfills and incinerators, and conserves natural resources. Recycling just a million cell phones reduces greenhouse gas emissions equal to taking 33 cars off the road for a year.

Cell phone recycling and wireless recycling programs keep valuable materials out of landfills, including an estimated $630,000 of precious metals from circuit boards, and enough copper from phone chargers to recover the Statue of Liberty, twice.

So, recycling cell phones is good for the environment.

But, wait...there's more.

You can donate the phone to charity, too. And, that is when I came across Cell Phones For Soldiers. Basically, it works like this...You gather up your old phones and mail them in. The sell the phones to a company that recycles them for that valuable material. The money they get from selling the phones is used to purchase calling cards for soldiers stationed overseas, allowing them to call home.

Cell Phones for Soldiers was founded by teenagers Robbie and Brittany Bergquist from Norwell, Mass., with $21 of their own money. Since then, the registered 501c3 non-profit organization has raised almost $2 million in donations and distributed more than 500,000 prepaid calling cards to soldiers serving overseas.

This program is cool on so many levels, and you should help out! Click here to donate your old phones today.