The University of Colorado Environmental Center's Recycling Program is partnering with The Wireless Alliance to help establish the university's first permanent cell phone recycling program.
Campus recycling kiosks will serve as collection sites for students who want to dispose of old cell phones in an environmentally conscious manner and money raised in the recycling campaign will benefit various student organizations within the University of Colorado's Student Union, or student government, according to Jack DeBell of CU's Recycling Services.
The Boulder-based Wireless Alliance works with manufacturers, wireless carriers, recyclers and non-profit organizations to collect, reuse, resell and recycle cellular equipment. Since 2002, The Wireless Alliance has reclaimed more than 300 tons of wireless equipment from landfills.
As part of the campus program, CU Recycling and The Wireless Alliance will place two cell phone recycling kiosks in prominent locations on campus. One kiosk will be housed in the food court at the University Memorial Center and the other will be rotated throughout various sites on- and off-campus.
The discarded phones will be sold to The Wireless Alliance and repurposed, reused or recycled. Money raised through the recycling program will go to community development projects. In addition, the mobile kiosk will be available for various student groups to place information, on a temporary basis, supporting a spectrum of fundraising efforts.
"Cell phone recycling is a win-win-win proposition and meets our 'triple bottom line' mission," said DeBell, referring to programs that are financially sound, environmentally friendly and that benefit student groups with fund raising. Student groups are encouraged to apply to use the kiosks by contacting the recycling program in UCSU's Environmental Center.
According to the Ridgewood, N.J., based market research group Student Monitor, 95 percent of college students own a cell phone and are estimated to change handsets about every 18 months. Wireless phone components contain lead, arsenic and other hazardous toxins that can leach into the environment through landfill decomposition.
One discarded cell phone and its battery can contaminate as much as 40,000 gallons of groundwater or a lake covering 26 acres, according to the environmental organization Basel Action Network. Recycling keeps old cell phones out of landfills and the environment.
"We are really looking forward to working with the CU Recycling Program to implement its first cell phone recycling program," said Peter Schindler, founder and president of The Wireless Alliance, and a CU graduate. "At the Wireless Alliance all cell phones, batteries and accessories are recycled according to national and local EPA laws," said Schindler. "We maintain a zero-waste policy requiring that all materials produced as a result of our business activities are reused or recycled."
In May 2005, CU Recycling teamed with The Wireless Alliance to produce a campuswide consumer electronics round-up, bringing in 20 tons of electronics equipment for recycling or reuse in schools around the state.
In April 2005, CU-Boulder was one of three universities nationwide to receive the Higher Education Recycling Leadership Award from Dell. CU was selected because of its commitment to leadership in the areas of technology innovation, environmental sustainability and campus community recycling.
CU Recycling is widely regarded as one of the nation's leading campus programs and has been recognized as an innovative leader by local and national organizations and committees. For more information, visit or call (303) 492.8307. For more information on The Wireless Alliance, visit or call (303) 543-7477.