Cellular Contribution An Innovative Project To Harvest Used Cellular Phones for the Benefit of Charities

Partners Charitable Recycling Team The Wireless Source Electronic Product Recovery REAP2 Supporters Oakland County REAP2 Municipal Consortium (30 members) Automation Alley Sponsoring Beneficiaries REAP2 Municipal Consortium Michigan Recycling Coalition

Charitable Distribution A) Municipality/partnering businesses or organizations must collect 20 phones in order to receive free

shipping and $1 per phone. B) The municipality/ partnering organization can keep the payment or designate to a charity and businesses can direct phones/payment through the municipality or to a charity C) When the REAP2 Consortium membership sends in a total of 500 phones, the Michigan Recycling Coalition will also receive 10 cents per phone; 1,000 phones= an additional 20 cents per phone; and 1,500 phones= an additional 25 cents per phone. D) In addition to the $1 per phone for partnering organizations or for the favorite charity of businesses, once partnering organizations send in a total of 500 phones, the municipality will also receive 10 cents per phone; 1,000 phones= an additional 20 cents per phone; and 1,500= an additional 25 cents per phone.

The Big Idea

The Cellular Contribution Program is a new and exciting environmental initiative, sponsored by REAP2, to benefit the REAP2 Municipal Consortium as well as the Michigan Recycling Coalition (MRC). REAP2– Recycling Electronics and Pollution Prevention– is a forward-looking project aiming to develop a private sector electronics infrastructure in Oakland County Michigan. The Cellular Contribution Program focuses on recycling used cellular phones and aims to clean up a hazardous electronic waste that threatens our environment, while benefiting local communities. The goal of this program is to recycle used cellular phones that are stockpiled in desk drawers and storage rooms. The recycling will take place in two ways. A working phone will be refurbished and re-introduced in an emerging market such as rural China, India, Latin America or Russia. A non-working phone will be recycled by REAP2 partners, always in compliance with state and federal regulations, but more importantly– maintaining high environmental standards. Either way, the phones are being recycled or reused in a responsible manner. Each cellular contribution that is made will result in a monetary donation to the municipality and the MRC. This program will clean up the environment and raise money for a worthy cause, while helping you dispose of your community’s unwanted e-waste.

Why the REAP2 Consortium? As a statewide supply network for municipal collection programs, the REAP2 Municipal Consortium has the potential to meet the e-waste challenge through the development of a collaborative economic advantage. Because wireless technology is an important niche in the REAP2 infrastructure, it’s vital for the Consortium to provide the supply stream needed for these niche players to be successful. The REAP2 Municipal Consortium is partnering with The Wireless Source to create an opportunity for you and your community to become involved in this exciting new environmental initiative. The Wireless Source is a company that refurbishes and redistributes used cellular phones, extending the products life and adding value back into the disposition process. The Cellular Contribution Program will provide municipalities with a convenient and reliable means for the disposition of unwanted technology. This is a great opportunity for a municipality to add on to their existing e-waste collection program or start up a new program. And it can grow to include the business and non-profit sectors in your area. The goal of Oakland County’s REAP2 program and its partners-Automation Alley and the Michigan Recycling Coalition/Municipal Consortium is to be part of a solution that does more than put e-waste out of sight, out of mind. The Cellular Contribution Program is an easy way to get involved in the solution to e-waste by helping the broader REAP2 goals of building an e-waste recycling infrastructure while playing a leading role in addressing at least one element of the e-waste stream.

How To Get Involved Getting involved is easy! First begin collecting used cellular phones along with your standard accepted e-waste. Then simply box up the phones and ship them. Or start a program by making cellular phones the first e-waste item your community collects. All promotional materials will be provided in a CD starter kit, including sample press releases, public service announcements, and promotional flyers along with operational guidelines. Once a municipality has a Cellular Contribution program established, it can then partner with other organizations within it’s community. The organizations can help collect cellular phones for the municipality or for the charity of their choice. Everyone benefits. Your municipality can find everything it needs at www.charitablerecycling.com. Online, it is possible to print pre-addressed shipping labels as well as tax donation receipts. There is even a step-by-step web page just for Municipal Consortium members! The Cellular Contribution Program makes it easy to dispose of your old cell phones in an environmentally safe manner while supporting recycling in Michigan and your community-and even creates revenues for worthy causes. To get involved: Lani Morgan, REAP2 Project Manager Oakland County Waste Resource Management (248) 858-2071 morganl@co.oakland.mi.us

The Challenge The electronic technologies that have transformed the world over the last four decades have brought with them new environmental challenges. Electronic devices like cellular phones that we now depend on every day contain a range of toxic materials. The toxins include lead, cadmium, beryllium, mercury, and chromium. The e-waste stream is growing rapidly in volume, and it is projected that it will make up 10 percent of solid waste in the near future. The number of Americans using cell phones has surged from 340,000 in 1985 to 128 million in 2001. On average, cell phones are used for only 18 months before being replaced. On average, 40% of cell phone users “churn” their cell phones, which means purchasing a new one when the current phone is still functional. Very little of this waste stream is currently recycled, and disposal is becoming more difficult. Legal liability hazards from both domestic and overseas disposal are rising, and legal mandates covering the disposal of e-waste are increasing. In the United States, municipalities increasingly require that e-waste be separated from the general waste stream. Several municipalities and states have already implemented landfill bans on much e-waste, and many more will do so in the future.