Verizon Wireless Touts Phone Recycling

Get a new phone for the holidays? Verizon Wireless wants folks to know they'll recycle your old phone, or put it to good use.

Without a doubt, many folks have received new mobile phones for the holidays. Regardless of whether it’s a coveted iPhone, a sleek Nokia handset, a smartphone touting Windows Mobile 6, or one of those addicting BlackBerry thingies, Verizon Wireless wants folks to know they shouldn’t just toss their old, no-longer-cool phones into the trash. Instead, folks in the New York and northern New Jersey can bring their unwanted phones to Verizon Wireless stores to be recycled and disposed of in an environmentally friendly manner, or offer the phones in support of Verizon Wireless HopeLine, which donates phones (or many raised from selling them) to survivors of domestic violence and abuse.

The HopeLine program got its start back in 1995, when the company was known as Bell Atlantic, and started out as free voicemail boxes offered to victims of domestic violence living in shelters. In 2001, the program expanded to include donations of unwanted mobile phones, which are converted to HopeLine phones for domestic violence survivors, with 3,000 minutes of talk time, nationwide coverage, and a selection of phone services like voicemail and Caller ID.

“It’s amazing how a small gesture like recycling an old phone can have a huge impact,” said Charles Hand, president of Verizon Wireless’ New York Metro Region, in a statement. “Over the past 10 years, our HopeLine program has kept tons of electronics waste and batteries out of landfills,” “Equally important is the fact that HopeLine has provided wireless phones that serve as lifelines to domestic violence victims.”

Verizon Wireless estimates the program has kept more than 200 tons of electronics waste out of landfills. It has also collected more than 4.2 million phones (of which, about a million were properly disposed of) and recycled more than 170,000 pounds of batteries in conjunction with Call2Recycle. The program has also raised more than $4 million in cash (partly from sales of donated phones) and given out more than 40,000 HopeLine phones.

Don’t live in the New York area? That’s no excuse to throw your old phone in the trash: check with your mobile operator or recycling programs in your area to find out how your phone can be disposed of safely…or, even better, given to someone who needs it.