The wireless industry organization, Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association (CWTA), has announced its annual cellphone recycling challenge for schools is now open for registration.

Participating schools part of this Earth Month Challenge to celebrate Earth Day 2019 can earn $1 for every cellphone they collect (minimum of 20 cellphones), plus a grand prize of $500 for the top school in every province and territory.

Winning schools are chosen based on the number of cellphones collected per student, based on school population says the CWTA, leading to the combined prize of up to $1,000.

The CWTA says data shows “more than 60 percent of Canadians have multiple cell phones in their possession that they aren’t currently using.”



Old phones can avoid landfills by participating in this challenge held by Recycle My Cell, the country’s free cellphone recycling program. Schools will be able to send in their phones to the program at no cost with supplied pre-paid mailing labels.

Schools can register for this challenge starting today, but the official dates are April 1-30 to start collecting cellphones.