More on Recycling

• Recycling
• Electronic Recycling
• Buy Recycled Initiative
• Household Hazardous Waste Collection
• Recycling Tours
• Mobile Recycling
• Christmas Tree Recycling
• Telephone Book Recycling
• Getting Involved
• Material(s) on Recycling
• Wipe Out Wireless Waste

Wipe Out Wireless Waste

For residents of Shreveport, Bossier City, and Haughton, Louisiana… Pick up an envelope at your local Brookshire’s to recycle your old cell phone for free! You can also pick up envelopes in any building on LSUS campus to recycle your old cell phone!

Read following information for more details:

Did you own a cell phone fifteen years ago? Maybe not, but you probably do now, right? It would also be a safe bet to say that your brother, sister, aunt, neighbor, mother, co-workers, even your 12-year-old cousin, all own a cell phone. In September of 2005, two billion people around the world owned cell phones. In just one year, that number increased by 500 million. That is a lot of cell phones, right? We’ve all probably thought at one point in time “how did I get by without one?” And with all of this technology becoming more and more advanced, people are trading in their old phones for new and improved camera phones, phones to play their music, phones that can go on the internet, etc. Even with all of these options, the average lifespan for a cell phone is only 18 months.

Does anyone know what happens to the old phones? Do people know that cell phones contain PBTs (Persistent Bioaccumulative Toxins), which are harmful for the environment if they end up in the landfill and leak into the ground? According to the Environmental Protection Agency, “The biggest concerns about PBTs are that they transfer rather easily among air, water, and land, and span boundaries of programs, geography, and generations.” So with 2.5 billion cell phones being replaced every 18 months, it’s a bit hard to imagine that none of them end up in the trash.

In fact, because of these harmful toxins, it is a law in California to recycle old cell phones. A company can not sell you a phone unless they have a way to recycle your old one. Laws like this are becoming more common in countries around the world, but until this becomes a law in Louisiana, it may not be so easy to find an alternative way to dispose of your old phone aside from dropping it into the garbage.

At Shreveport Green, we are working to make it almost effortless for you to recycle your old phone. We have joined with the Sprint Nextel Corporation and Keep America Beautiful’s “Wipe Out Wireless Waste” program. With this program, we have received prepaid envelopes that make it easy for you to send your phone through the mail to have it recycled. All you need to do is delete your personal information, remove the battery, place tape on the terminal ends, put the phone, battery, and accessories in one of these envelopes, and drop it in the mailbox. For now, you can find these envelopes for FREE in our office at 3625 Southern Avenue or in the Recycling Center at 4761 St. Vincent Avenue. Any Brookshire's in Shreveport, Bossier City, or Haughton also has them, along with any building on LSUS Campus!

Instead of dropping your old, outdated phone into the trash where it leaks toxins into the ground that will pollute the earth, recycle it and make a difference! Call Millie at (318) 219-1888 with any questions!!

This is a photo of one of our Wipe Out Wireless Waste Kits! You will find envelopes in these boxes at your local Brookshire’s customer service desk in Shreveport, Bossier City, or Haughton!

For all other residents please visit www.kab.org for information on recycling your old cell phones!