Canadians Encouraged to Recycle Old Cell Phones on Earth Day

Recycle My Cell is Canada’s free cell phone recycling program and it is encouraging everyone to take part on Earth Day, Monday April 22, as an opportunity to recycle their old, dusty and embarrassing old cell phones.

Data from their 2012 National Cell Phone Recycling Study released today indicates 41% of old phones are stashed away in drawers opposed to being recycled (there’s no way I’m giving up my antique ‘Zack Morris’ cell phone).

Canadians can visit RecycleMyCell.ca to learn more about where to recycle their phones at free drop off locations, or print postage-paid labels to mail away their old wireless devices. The program accepts all cell phones, smartphones, wireless PDAs, pagers, accessories and rechargeable cell phone batteries.

Other key findings from the 2012 National Cell Phone Recycling Study include:

• 93% of cell phone owners will purchase a new cell phone as opposed to a used or refurbished device.
• The average cell phone user keeps their new device for 22 months.
• 71% of respondents indicated they were likely to recycle their cell phone in the future.
• Those who have used the Recycle My Cell program rated a high level of satisfaction with using the program (95%).

Below is an infographic from their 2012 recycling study:

What old cell phones and wireless devices do you have lying around? Palm Pilots? Dell Axims? Pagers? Nokia candy bars?