Penn College News

Power of Recycling Evident in Discarded Cellphones

Monday, April 5, 2010

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.