PORTLAND-Spring cleaning is just around the corner,
and most of us will find our old cell phones tucked away in a junk
drawer. Your first instinct maybe to overlook it, because until now you
didn’t know what to do with it- now we have the answer! Bring your old
cell phone and accessories to any of Goodwill’s 23 stores throughout
Maine and New Hampshire, and receive a tax deduction based on fair
market value for your donation.
Cell phones, car and home chargers, collected in Goodwill stores are
being recycled by ReCellular, a national company from Dexter, Michigan.
This partnership between the Goodwill and ReCellular is a fitting one.
Both organizations look to help the planet and environment by recycling
and reusing items to help eliminate waste.
A phone that is sent to ReCellular will be broken down and sorted by
its various parts. A data eraser will eliminate all personal data and
information. For those of us who don’t trust a company to do it, we can
visit the wirelessrecycling.com
website to get instructions on how to do it ourselves. Once the cell
phone is dissected and tested, it is combined with other cell phone
parts to make a new phone. Half of ReCellular’s phones are sent to
domestic resellers, the other half to developing countries in Africa,
South America, and Asia. ReCellular is on schedule to resell 4 million
phones in 2007.
How is my donation benefiting Goodwill? The funds received for cell
phone donations help fund Goodwill’s human service programs in Maine
and New Hampshire for people with disabilities.
“We are excited about the opportunity to partner with a nationally
recognized company who believes in recycling, much like Goodwill,” says
Randy Finamore, Director of Retail Services at Goodwill Industries of
Northern New England. “Expanding our services for our donors and
shoppers is another way we can reach out to our communities and bring
customers what they are looking for in a Goodwill store,” says Finamore.
Goodwill is a human service organization and a net-work of nonprofit
businesses. Revenue generated in Goodwill’s retail stores help fund
programs for people with disabilities. For more information visit www.ginne.org.
