Campus unites to promote recycling of used cell phones

A new California law requiring all cell phone retailers to
provide a way to collect and recycle used cell phones was recently
signed into law by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Though the Cell Phone Recycling Act will go into effect in 2006,
organizations around the city and on campus have already begun
recycling efforts.

It was passed by the California Legislature and signed into law
by the governor on Sept. 29.

Also known as Assembly Bill 2091, it was passed in response to
increasing concern over discarded cell phones and their potentially
harmful effects on the environment.

Each day, about 44,650 cell phones are discarded in California,
according to the Californians Against Waste Web site.

These phones can go into landfills and release toxins such as
arsenic, copper, lead and mercury into the environment, causing air
and ground water pollution.

“I wouldn’t say that if one cell phone goes in the
trash it’s going to be a big issue, but collectively it can
become a big problem,” said Michael Spicer, manager for the
Hazardous Waste Program at UCLA.

Spicer said recycling cell phones was also a way to preserve
resources because many of the parts in old phones are reused for
new phones.

Spicer said the Hazardous Waste Program in collaboration with
the city of Los Angeles picks up old cell phones, computers and
other electronics every Thursday, Friday and Saturday in the
Environmental Health and Services Building on Charles Young Drive
West.

The California Recycles Company, which was one of the
bill’s supporters, has a program called America Donates, in
which retailers and other locations provide cell phone drop
boxes.

“We want to put our drop boxes in campuses and high
schools, and also we are going to have programs to educate the
children in recycling,” California Recycles employee Elham
Ebiza said.

She also added that currently, only 2 percent of cell phones are
recycled and about 70 percent of people do not know that phones can
be recycled.

Cell phones can be donated through the program at several
drop-off locations in Westwood or can be mailed to the company.

Student groups have also started recycling old cell phones on
campus.

The Environmental Bruins are hoping to have a drop box for
ink-jet cartridges and cell phones in computer labs around campus
within the next few weeks and eventually in the dorms, President
Sean Hoppes said.

Also, Engineers without Borders, another campus group, have
collection locations for electronic waste, including cell phones,
batteries and printer cartridges, in Boelter Hall, according to its
Web site.

While currently there is no cell phone recycling program within
the university’s Facilities Management, its Web Site suggests
that old phones can be donated to the Donate a Phone program. The
donated phones are collected to benefit victims of domestic
violence by either donating them to violence victims or funding
agencies that fight domestic violence.

Ebiza said the bill and these programs should raise awareness
about the problem of discarding old cell phones.

“I think that not just UCLA students but overall in
California, people will have more understanding of toxins and what
they have to do with phones when we don’t need them
anymore,” she said.

More information on how to donate or recycle a phone can be
found at www.californiarecycles.com and
www.wirelessfoundation.org.