Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
With the approval of the Kosciusko County Solid Waste Management District board Tuesday, the district is partnering with the Victim Service Center in collecting used cell phones.
The best phones will be sorted out to be used by victims of violent crimes for emergency 911 calls. All other phones, (as well as pagers, ink jets and other phone accessories) will be sold to ReCellular.
Collection boxes will be placed at all local police stations within the week. Phones also may be dropped off at the KC Recycling Depot Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Cell phones contain mercury, lead and certain brominated flame retardants and other hazardous chemicals, according to INFORM Inc. These chemicals may then leach into the ground when placed into a landfill or give off toxic fumes into the atmosphere when burned.
It is estimated that 10 million phones in the United States will be discarded in 2004 due to quickly changing technology, according to the information provided by district director Sue Studebaker.
ReCellular will sort out the best phones from those sent to them from the district to refurbish and resell to countries that do not have or have very few land lines for telephone service. The rest of the phones and pagers in this program will be recycled for their plastics and metals. ReCellular was chosen for this program, Studebaker said, because of their environmental stand.
This program will give area residents the opportunity to property dispose of their old cell phones, pagers and ink jets while supporting the services of Victim Service Center and the Kosciusko County Solid Waste Management District.
For more information, call 372-3087; fax 372-3088; visit online at www.kcrecycling.com; or e-mail kcrecycling@earthlink.net
