OTTAWA – Siri, where can I go to recycle you? The answer is the Recycle My Cell program for mobile devices and accessories, which has officially kicked off its third annual Recycle My Cell Student Challenge.
As the national sponsor of Waste Reduction Week in Canada (October 15-21), Recycle My Cell is challenging all Canadian schools and post-secondary institutions to recycle as many old wireless devices as possible, including cell phones, smartphones, wireless PDAs, pagers, accessories and cell phone batteries.
The Challenge, running from October 15 to November 15, encourages students of all ages to participate and raise awareness about cell phone recycling and environmental stewardship. The school in each province and territory that collects the most cell phones, based on school population, will be awarded $500. The prize money will be used towards school environmental initiatives.
“We are very pleased to participate again this year in Waste Reduction Week as the national sponsor,” said Bernard Lord, President and CEO of the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association (CWTA). “The Recycle My Cell Student Challenge continues to be met with great enthusiasm by young Canadians from coast to coast.”
The Recycle My Cell Student Challenge has been running in conjunction with Waste Reduction Week for the last three years with much success. Last year, 470 schools registered, collecting more than 6,200 devices and accessories.
“Recycle My Cell has been an important supporter of Waste Reduction Week in Canada”, said Jo-Anne St. Godard, Chair of Waste Reduction Week in Canada. “The Challenge really helps young Canadians to understand the importance of safely recycling e-waste and provides an excellent opportunity to participate in Waste Reduction Week.”
All schools and post-secondary institutions in each province and territory can register here and Recycle My Cell will provide the box needed to easily set up a Recycle My Cell collection site. Upon closing of the Challenge on November 15, 2012, participating schools will be able to arrange to have the phones picked up for processing for free.
The Recycle My Cell Student Challenge is made possible by the generous support of the Recycle My Cell Partners: Bell, Dell Canada Inc., Eastlink, GEEP Inc., Greentec, LG Electronics Canada Inc., Lynx Mobility, Mobilicity, Motorola Mobility, MTS, Nokia, Research In Motion, Rogers Communications, Samsung Electronics Canada Inc., SaskTel, Sims Recycling Solutions, Sony Mobile Communications, TBayTel, Telus, Videotron, Virgin Mobile Canada and Wind Mobile.
