Residents in Northeastern Oklahoma are being encouraged to dig out their old mobile phones and donate them to a good cause. The Coweta Band program is attempting to raise money to pay for an upcoming trip to the Alamo Bowl in San Antonio, Tex. The trip, scheduled for December, will cost approximately $80,000, all inclusive. The fundraising project manager Teddy Wyatt said that the school has chosen to use GRC, the largest mobile phone recycling company in the U.S. GRC collects mobile phones, refurbishes and resells them to consumers. Phones that cannot be reused are recycled. The program expects ... Full Story

The Ocean County Library in Ocean City, New Jersey has announced its participation in a fundraiser to benefit the national Cell Phones for Soldiers programme. To assist the programme, the library has begun to distribute postage-paid envelopes to its 17 branches so that patrons can ship unwanted cell phones to the Massachusetts based organisation. Cell Phones for Soldiers is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organisation that collects and resells used cell phones to benefit U.S. soldiers stationed overseas. The organisation sells the donated phones to ReCellular, Inc., which refurbishes and recycles the handsets. For each donated cell phone, a soldier will receive approximately ... Full Story

The children at St Patrick's Primary School located in New South Wales have done their part for the environment by joining in the national recycling programme sponsored by mobile phone recycling company MobileMuster. All 218 students at the school participated in the scheme to gather up unwanted mobile phones so that they could be recycled. As a result of the kids' enthusiasm, over 400 old mobiles were collected and sent off to be recycled. The achievement put the school at the top of the heap, landing them in second place among all schools on Australia's eastern seaboard. In addition to clearing out ... Full Story

The New York City Department of Sanitation's Bureau of Waste Prevention, Reuse and Recycling has partnered once again with Verizon Wireless to collect used mobile phones at the annual Electronics Recycling and Clothing Donation event to be held this autumn. Sanitation Commissioner John J. Doherty released a statement urging all New York City residents to donate old wireless phones to benefit survivors of domestic violence. Similar recycling schemes were held in all five boroughs of the city earlier this year. The collections generated over 1,100 pounds of mobile phones and accessories. All phones collected at the event will be donated to the Verizon ... Full Story

This weekend marks the much awaited return of Virgin Festival Toronto. People are crazy about the third annual festival and this year is bigger and better than ever. 54 artists are scheduled to appear, including super bands Foo Fighters and Oasis. It is estimated that 40,000 people will attend. "This year's Virgin Festival Toronto is set to go down as the best ever," says Nathan Rosenberg, chief marketing officer, Virgin Canada. "Since we launched in 2006, Virgin Festival has brought together more than 130,000 music fans and taken its place as one of the top rock festivals in the country. Virgin ... Full Story

It could be embarrassing for someone, especially a teen, to carry a phone that is "so last year". On average, mobile phones are upgraded every 12-18 months. Most current plans allow for upgrades at 21 months (it used to be straight 2 years) but many people simply don't want to wait. That being the case, where do those old out of style phones go? The sad answer is that most of them sit around collecting dust when they could be recycled for charity or profit. It is estimated that 130 million mobile phones are tossed aside every year and that, on average, ... Full Story

Office Depot, the major office supplies retailer, opened its first "green" store this summer. Located in Austin, Texas, the store was purposefully designed to consumer less water and energy during its daily operations. It also has an increased number of recycling programmes and promises to leave a much smaller footprint than stores of a similar nature. "We took a series of innovative green design elements used in Office Depot store locations across the country and brought them together in our new store prototype," said Ed Costa, Office Depot's construction VP. "Through the construction phase of this prototype design we used a ... Full Story

Retailers in Tokyo have devised a way to make mobile phone users feel more secure about donating their old handsets in for recycling. Major retail stores throughout the city are getting on the bandwagon with recycling programmes, hoping to encourage customers to step up to the challenge. Among those retailers are Bic Camera and Yodobashi Camera, who have placed collection boxes on site. Once people are informed about the capabilities of recycling firms, many could be persuaded to donate their used mobiles. However, there is a real threat of hacking into the phone's memory, an issue that has some people frightened. ... Full Story

Earlier this year, East Carolina University paralegal Dawn Gibbs launched a cell phone recycling program designed to benefit the Family Violence Program of Pitt County. While many people in ECU's own town of Greeneville, North Carolina may not think twice about an old cell phone, there are many people who would give their lives to have one. When people donate old cell phones to the program, victims of domestic violence may have a chance to call for help when no other means may be available. Cell phones, even those without service, are able to make 911 calls. For ... Full Story

The Forest Park Conservancy, located in Portland, Oregon, has developed a recycling programme designed to benefit the trees. For each unwanted mobile phone donated to the conservancy, $1 will be given to preserving the trails in Forest Park. It may not sound like much to you, but it all adds up in the end. The programme runs through 20 October and actually marries several worthwhile charities. For example, the actual mobile phones that are donated will go to the Massachusetts-based charity Cell Phone for Soliders, a scheme that supplies military personnel overseas with the means to call home. Cell Phones for ... Full Story

Each year, the St. Croix Valley Home Builders Association in New Richmond, Wisconsin holds a Fall Tour of Homes at the beginning of September. The organisation has just announced that the 2008 tour will have an extra feature - a drop-off site for recycling mobile phones. Participating model homes will be accepting donations of old mobile phones for recycling as well as all dry cell batteries. SCVHBA executive officer Jill Larson pointed out the recent Nokia study which revealed approximately 3 percent of mobile phone users bother to recycle their own handsets. Nearly 75% of the study participants were unaware that ... Full Story

Carol Clancy has long been an avid supporter and fundraiser for the Centre for Cerebral Palsy. Clancy, who resides in Dinniup, Australia, jumped at the chance to participate in a programme where she would be able to help the environment while raising funds for a charity near and dear to her heart. The eco-friendly fundraiser Clancy has been working on is a mobile phone recycling programme. Currently, old phones are dropped off at one of the Centre's three shire offices in Bridgetown, Boyup Brook, and Manjimup. The process is quite simple. Each drop off site is equipped with special free post ... Full Story