OTTAWA – Canada's free cellphone recycling program Recycle My Cell celebrates its 10th anniversary this week with the knowledge that it has recycled or reused almost 7 million devices.
Run by the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association (CWTA), the program offers over 2,600 drop-off locations across the country. Canadians may visit the bilingual website to get answers on how to erase their personal information from their old cellphones before searching for the nearest drop-off location for their mobile phones and accessories.
A new report from the CWTA found that increased awareness among consumers continues to bolster recycling across the nation – 431,943 devices were recovered via the Recycle My Cell program in 2018 (304,027 were reused and 127,916 were recycled), bringing the grand total of recycled or reused cell phones over the past 10 years to 6,985,325.
Other findings from the 2018 Understanding Cell Phone Recycling Behaviours survey include:
– An overwhelming majority of Canadians (97%) support or somewhat support cell phone recycling programs in some form. Over 80% of Canadians are aware cell phones can be recycled and would consider recycling their cell phones if they knew where to recycle them.
– 51% of Canadians chose a form of either recycling or reuse for a previous device in 2018.
– 66% of Canadians say they have cell phones in their possession that they are not using and are being stored, compared to 33% who say they don't.
– Nearly 9 in 10 (90%) Canadians personally have one cell phone that they actively use, while 9% actively use two cell phones, 1% use three cell phones and 0.2% use four cell phones or more.
"The numbers clearly show consumers are interested in doing the right thing," said CWTA president and CEO Robert Ghiz, in the news release. "We're thrilled to have played such a significant part in encouraging more and more Canadians to recycle or reuse their old devices rather than throwing them in the trash or stuffing them in a drawer. Positive progress has been made over the past decade, and we're optimistic that trend will continue moving forward."
Municipalities, recycling depots, businesses and community organizations across the country can support the Recycle My Cell program by hosting a drop-off location year-round. Click here for more.
