Power of Recycling Evident in Discarded Cellphones

Published 04.05.2010

News

As this week's Green Tip, Penn College's Energy Conservation Subcommittee announces National Cell Phone Recycling Week (April 5-11), a joint effort of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Plug-in to eCycling. The energy saved by recycling one cellphone is enough to power a laptop computer for 44 hours. If Americans recycled the 130 million cellphones that are disposed of annually, enough energy would be saved to power 24,000 homes a year. The current recycle rate is only 10 percent. Reusing/recycling saves energy and conserves resources both in raw and reused materials. Local partners in the program include AT&T, Best Buy, Sprint and Verizon Wireless. More information may be obtained online.