DEBRIS.COMgood for a laugh, or possibly an aneurysm

According to charitablerecycling.com:

Old cell phones should not be disposed of in landfills since they contain many toxic materials that are harmful to our environment. By the year 2005, there will be 500 million stockpiled used cell phones weighing over 250,000 tons that could potentially enter our waste stream.

There are numerous centers that recycle cellphones, but I’d rather have someone still use my old phone. Sure, it’s a dinosaur, but it works. I hope it’s still worth something to somebody.

• oldcellphone.com pays cash for recent phones, and pays shipping too.
• wirelessfoundation.org’s Call To Protect program refurbishes and sells used phones; proceeds support agencies that fight domestic violence. Their site provides a list of local (nationwide) drop-off centers. CTP provides tax receipts for donations.
• collectivegood.com “attempts to recycle donated phones back into reuse in the developing world (usually Latin America or the Caribbean), where they serve useful, longer lives and offer affordable communications, in many cases offering families their first modern communications.” Their refurb center updates and replaces phone software, removing your call history and address book in the process, thereby reducing privacy concerns.
• phones4charity.org attempts to put functioning phones back into service. Tax receipts are available.

Recycling, legislation are among efforts to reduce phones dumped in landfills:

Californians Against Waste, an environmental group, estimates state residents throw away an average of nearly 45,000 cell phones every day.

The cell companies could do a much better job of closing this loop — if they promoted recycling with half as much vigor as they promote upgrades, that discard statistic would drop to zero.