OTTAWA – C’mon kids, grab those old mobile devices: the Recycle My Cell student challenge is back for a fourth year.
As the national sponsor of Waste Reduction Week in Canada (October 21-27), 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 school in each province and territory that collects the most cell phones (based on school population) will be awarded $500 to be used towards a school environmental project. Last year, more than 4,000 cell phones and more than 270 kilograms of wireless accessories and batteries were collected through the Challenge.
“The response to the Recycle My Cell Student Challenge over the past four years has been incredible,” said Bernard Lord, president and CEO of the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association (CWTA). “Canadian youth are to be commended for their exceptional environmental leadership skills that will have a lasting effect for generations to come.”
“Waste Reduction Week in Canada is about building awareness around consumer behaviour, sustainable consumption, and waste reduction,” said Jo-Anne St. Godard, spokesperson for Waste Reduction Week in Canada. “With more than 27 million Canadians acquiring a new cell phone every two-and-a-half years, this program provides an important call to action that ensures every device is reused or properly recycled.”
All schools and post-secondary institutions in each province and territory must first register and then Recycle My Cell will provide the box needed to set up a Recycle My Cell collection site. Upon closing of the Challenge on November 22, 2013, participating schools can drop off their boxes at any Canada Post location for free shipping.
The Recycle My Cell Student Challenge is made possible by the support of the Recycle My Cell Partners: Bell, BlackBerry, Eastlink, GEEP Inc., GREENTEC, LG Electronics Canada, Inc., Lynx Mobility, Motorola Mobility, MTS, Nokia, Rogers Communications, Samsung Electronics Canada Inc., SaskTel, Sims Recycling Solutions, Sony Mobile Communications, TBayTel, TELUS, Videotron, and Virgin Mobile Canada.
