Making it Easier to Recycle Cell Phone - New Partnership Increases opportunities to Keep California Beautiful.

Sacramento, Calif. (PRWEB) – Keep California Beautiful (KCB) in partnership with American Wireless, and The Wireless Alliance has developed a program to provide cell phone recycling opportunities throughout California. The partnership already has expanded the existing cell phone recycling program developed by KCB and the Wireless Alliance to include drop off locations at 300 of the nearly 1000 dealerships associated with American Wireless with additional locations to be added.

This program will begin immediately, in time for the holiday shopping season when many replace old cell phones. The recycler, The Wireless Alliance will provide collection boxes free of charge to all distributor locations associated with American Wireless. Consumers may contact The Wireless Alliance to find a location nearby by calling toll free (866) 366-5791 and providing their zip code. If you are a wireless retailer in California, this recycling program allows compliance with AB 2901 and offers additional promotional benefits.

According to Christine Flowers-Ewing, Executive Director of Keep California Beautiful, “the organization supports the recycling of cell phones in this manner because consumers need options to dispose of their cell phones and accessories in an environmentally sound way which is convenient. The bonus is that with retail locations providing collection opportunities and our web based program it is easier than ever to recycle cell phones.”

Over 240 million Americans have a cell phone and every year an estimated 150 million cell phones go into closets, desk drawers and worse, in the trash while over 100 million wireless phones will be discarded this year! However, wireless phones can be redistributed, refurbished or recycled - almost every part of a wireless phone is recyclable!

“Cell phones contain harmful metals that can pollute the environment and threaten our health. By properly recycling cell phones, they can be reused, decreasing the need for new metal mining”, said Margo Reid Brown, Chair for the California Integrated Waste Management Board. “This program will ease the burden on consumers and help us protect our environment.”

Recycling your phone costs you nothing and contributes to the well-being of our planet. A cell phone can be harmful to the environment if thrown into the trash. It contains materials such as lead, arsenic, nickel, cadmium, and other materials which can pollute the ground and water. One cell phone, tossed into a landfill, can pollute up to 40,000 gallons of groundwater!

Keep California Beautiful is raising funds by collecting cell phones and helping the environment by keeping cell phones out of landfills. All materials are repurposed in a zero waste, environmentally-conscious manner. The cell phone recycling guarantees personal information is destroyed. Proceeds benefit Keep California Beautiful and support our cleanup, recycling and beautification projects across the state. Individuals who recycle their phones through this program will receive a certificate of appreciation.

During the next year Keep California Beautiful will be working to help promote environmental education messaging and public outreach supporting the need to affect public perception and individual responsibility regarding the recycling of cell phones as the current recycling rate for cell phones is approximately 5%.

Keep California Beautiful, an affiliate of Keep America Beautiful, is a nonprofit environmental organization. KCB’s mission is to promote individual responsibility for California’s environment through source reduction, litter prevention, recycling, and beautification. KCB pursues this mission by developing public/private partnerships at the state level as a way to provide necessary resources to local communities. For more information on our programs please visit www.cleanca.org As a division of The Brix Group Inc. (founded in 1971 by Harry Brix), and recognized as the first and one of the largest Wireless Master Agents in North America, American Wireless serves as a critical intermediary between wireless carriers and independent retailers. Ultimately this large retail network made up of independent wireless dealers serves the wireless consumer and business user. American Wireless is headquartered in Campbell, California and has a nationwide distribution and sales footprint. With offices, infrastructure and a sales force throughout the United States (including distribution in parts of Mexico and Canada), American Wireless facilitates the distribution of wireless products and services for specific carriers and manufacturers such as Sprint, Verizon Wireless, Dish Network TV, Sirius Satellite Radio, Helio, Boost Mobile, Motorola and more. The American Wireless independent dealer-store and sales channel generates a significant portion of the industry's annual revenue for cell phones (postpaid and prepaid), satellite television and radios, GPS devices, voice and data activation services, and hardware and accessories. The Wireless Alliance is a cellular phone recycling company and your source for new and used cellular equipment. They constantly strive to bring integrity, reliability, and great customer service to the wireless phone recycling industry. As a wholesaler of used, new, and refurbished equipment we sell between 50-60,000 phones per month. They collect and distribute every cell phone technology including CDMA, TDMA, Analog, and GSM. They take pride in successfully liquidating overstocked, obsolete, and used phone inventories. Let us help you turn useless inventory into cash or find the product you need for refurbishing. The Wireless Alliance works with manufacturers, wireless carriers, recyclers and non-profit organizations to collect, resell and recycle cellular equipment. All equipment is repurposed in a zero waste, environmentally-conscious manner. Since 2001, The Wireless Alliance has reclaimed over 500 tons of wireless equipment from landfills, contributing to a cleaner and safer environment.

The California Integrated Waste Management Board (CIWMB) is the State's leading authority on recycling and waste reduction promoting a zero waste California in partnership with local government, industry, and the public. This means reducing waste whenever possible, promoting the management of all materials to their highest and best use, and protecting public health and safety and the environment.

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