Where can I recycle or donate an old cell phone? I know there are a ton of good organizations that take old cell phones and give them to charities--how do I find them?
Motorola has a recycling program that raises money for schools. (Your old cell phones don't have to be Motorola). You can print a free postage label from their web site. http://www.racetorecycle.com/consumer.html
The site Escrime posted is the biggest one in this game. Many retailers collect phones for them, and then the money goes to various charities. It's a cool program.
Are you looking to donate your phone to be specifically used by the charity or simply the money from refurbishing it and then selling it? I'm not sure what you're looking for but I really urge you to look at non-profits that donate the phones to abused women's shelters. The phones memories/SIM cards are erased and then 911, shelter numbers, and abuse hotlines are programmed into the phones for the women. They're especially needed for shelters for families that that homeless/transitional housing single-mom families have some sort of emergency help.
There are a bunch of places that use the old cell phones in abused women's shelters. I would just do a Google search for your city and something like cell phone donation abused women's shelters.
When I did the search with my city, this popped up: "Looking to donate your used cell phone to a women's shelter or domestic violence agency? Check out the national Call to Protect program, now accepting phones at area Sprint PCS and Wireless Zone stores; or Verizon's Hopeline Program - you can drop off used cell phones at any local Verizon Wireless."
The websites are: http://www.wirelessfoundation.org/CalltoProtect/index.cfm (This non-profit does both, selling the phones and using the phones for shelters.)
http://aboutus.vzw.com/communityservice/hopeLine.html (Verizon collects all phones from all carriers, but only does the refurb then sell bit.)
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Are you looking to donate your phone to be specifically used by the charity or simply the money from refurbishing it and then selling it? I'm not sure what you're looking for but I really urge you to look at non-profits that donate the phones to abused women's shelters. The phones memories/SIM cards are erased and then 911, shelter numbers, and abuse hotlines are programmed into the phones for the women. They're especially needed for shelters for families that that homeless/transitional housing single-mom families have some sort of emergency help.
There are a bunch of places that use the old cell phones in abused women's shelters. I would just do a Google search for your city and something like cell phone donation abused women's shelters.
When I did the search with my city, this popped up: "Looking to donate your used cell phone to a women's shelter or domestic violence agency? Check out the national Call to Protect program, now accepting phones at area Sprint PCS and Wireless Zone stores; or Verizon's Hopeline Program - you can drop off used cell phones at any local Verizon Wireless."
The websites are: http://www.wirelessfoundation.org/CalltoProtect/index.cfm (This non-profit does both, selling the phones and using the phones for shelters.)
http://aboutus.vzw.com/communityservice/hopeLine.html (Verizon collects all phones from all carriers, but only does the refurb then sell bit.)
Actually, that's exactly what I had had in mind. Thanks, relrel!