Cellular Recycler

Cellular Recycler has supported the American Cancer Society for 9 years raising over $250,000 for cancer research.  Please help make the Relay for Life season kick off a success here in Boulder CO!!

The 2012 Boulder Relay For Life Committee would like to thank you for a successful 2011 Relay For Life event. Last year’s event raised more than $16,000 in the fight against cancer. The event was successful in large part due to people like you who committed time, energy and money. Last year’s teams included the following teams:

Avanti Therapy                       Blue Mountain Arts                    Cellular Recycler

Colorado Energy                     Hakuna Matata                           Knight Walkers

Singing in the Rain                Painting a Better Future           Ray of Hope

Bold and the Beautiful                                                                     The Fierce Force

Special recognition goes out to Ray of Hope as 2011 Boulder Relay For Life’s number one fundraising team with a total of $6,200.00 in donations! We also wish to recognize last year’s sponsors: Pasta Jays, Boulder Valley Unified School District, Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage, Denver Magazine, Outdoor Promotions, Verandasun, Kitty Cat llc, Blue Mountain Arts Inc, Yellow Cab, CBS Outdoor, 5280 Denver’s Magazine, Colorado Energy Management Llc and Viacom Outdoor for their generous donations and/or volunteering their time and talents.

Finally, it is time to get the ball rolling and kick off the 2012 Boulder Relay For Life!!! This year’s Kick Off Event will be held at Hotel Boulderado, from 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm April 10^th 2012. This event is not only for our seasoned Relay For Life vets like you, but also for rookie Relayers too, – so please help us spread the word and bring a friend!

It is never too early to register so get a head start on this year’s Relay and register your team now at www.boulderrfl.com!!

For team questions or for more information, please contact Jayson Swigart, Team Recruitment Chair at RelayForLifeBoulder@gmail.com.

Looking forward to seeing you at this year’s Boulder Relay!

Cellular Recycler is now a Pace Certified Zero Waste Partner!!

“PACE is a free program in Boulder County committed to providing local businesses with technical assistance to improve their energy efficiency, zero waste management, and water conservation.   PACE is a partnership of local governments committed to creating a business community with environmentally sustainable practices.”

Cellular Recycler received a diversion rate of 80% exceeding the qualification by 10%! 

Zero Waste is a philosophy and a design principle for the 21st Century. It includes ‘recycling’ but goes beyond recycling by taking a ‘whole system’ approach to the vast flow of resources and waste through human society.
Zero Waste maximizes recycling, minimizes waste, reduces consumption and ensures that products are made to be reused, repaired or recycled back into nature or the marketplace.

“Zero Waste poses a fundamental challenge to ‘business as usual.’ … It has the potential to motivate people to change their life styles, demand new products, and insist that corporations and governments behave in new ways. This is a very exciting development.”
– Peter Montague, editor of Rachel’s Environment & Health Weekly

By: Ginger Kimel, Lake Placid, FL Relay For Life Event Chair

Lake Placid, Florida is a small town in a small county.  Our entire county has just under 100,000 residents, and Lake Placid is the smallest of the 3 main towns.  We had a successful Relay For Life event this year, and the cell phone recycling program was a big help.  The teams were excited about it, and the team that raised the most was Highlands Greenhouses.  They are a huge nursery that provides plants to places like Home Depot and Lowe’s, so they have a lot of employees.  They collected 160 phones!  Their success has encouraged other teams to start collecting for next year’s event, so I already have about 30 phones ready.

Team Lake Country Elementary makes a lap at the Lake Placid, FL Relay For Life

Our theme this year was “Tune Out Cancer”, so each team selected a show or movie that folks could “tune in to”.  One team (Lake Country Elementary) chose The Flintstones — and they collected quite a few phones.  Another team (Lykes) selected M.A.S.H., and they, also collected quite a few phones. Some of the teams are getting creative in finding sources for phones to recycle.  Places such as phone stores, thrift shops, etc. may be willing to donate phones that are just sitting around collecting dust, if they know they will be used to raise funds for the American Cancer Society.

How a 13-year-old cancer survivor raised $2,000 for the American Cancer Society with Cellular Recycler

13 year old team captain raised $13,800

For 13-year-old and two-time cancer survivor Sandlyn Fultz, hearing the “Happy Birthday” song is a sound of victory. This year she’ll celebrate another victory: raising over $2,000 for the American Cancer Society by collecting old cell phones with Cellular Recycler’s Cell Phone Fundraising Program.  At the age of two, Sandlyn was diagnosed with a rare muscle cancer called Rhabdomyosarcoma. Even after a year of chemotherapy and numerous surgeries, doctors said she had no chance at long-term survival.

At the age of 11, Sandlyn was once again diagnosed with a rare sarcoma, Malignant Peripheral Nerve Sheath Tumor or MPNST, an aggressive cancer mostly found in adults over the age of 40. However, she has already used the “lifetime max” of the chemo drugs that would best treat that cancer.  Since she was just two years old, Sandlyn has attended the Relay for Life event each year, and she has twice served as an honorary chairperson.

This year, Sandlyn served as team captain for her own team. She set a goal of raising $2,000. Mr. Billings, CEO of integrate, agreed to match up to $5,000 as a donation. Sandlyn organized a team, involved her local AT&T stores, held monthly team meetings, and used Facebook to get her friends on board collecting a box of phones from January 18th through March 31st. By the end, Team Sandlyn sent in 30 boxes with a total of 1,170 phones to Cellular Recycler for a total fundraising value of $1,990.62.

Other fundraising efforts, including a corporate donor, Entegreat, yielded a total of $13,800 for her team!  What might seem like just an old, useless phone could have the power to save someone else’s life — especially when you organize a team.

What might seem like just an old, useless phone could have the power to save someone else’s life — especially when you organize a team. To learn more about Cellular Recycler’s Cell Phone Fundraising program, visit http://www.cellularrecycler.com/acs

In a historic address President Obama signed a proclamation for America to become a world leader in sustainable electronics recycling. On November 15th (America Recycles Day), the President as well as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that greater attention must be given to how our country discards consumer electronics.

While the recycling and reuse of plastics, aluminum and paper have steadily been on the rise, very little has been done to manage our e-waste safely. However, recent media coverage on the amount of hazardous materials and rare minerals that end up in landfills and countries like China and India has changed the climate on our recycling in this country.

EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson said, “Used electronics represent the fastest growing segment of local solid waste in our country.”

Nancy Sutley, Chair of CEQ said, “The federal government has a responsibility to ensure that its own waste is properly managed and recycled. Identifying opportunities to reuse the valuable resources contained in most disposed electronic devices is an important part of our obligation to protect human health and the environment.”

Companies like Cellular Recycler of Boulder, CO have been responsibly recycling cellphones for over 7 years. Safely collecting, refurbishing, and reselling cellphones is a needed part of the sustainable electronics recycling. We can learn a great deal from companies like this and replicate the model to cover computers, cameras, gaming devices and other electronics from ending up in landfills and polluting our environment.

The President’s address brings hope and opportunity to make America a world leader in sustainable electronics.

So, in efforts to outsource their ‘sales’ department, companies have created programs where kids can sell their products and receive commission on the sale. These programs are by no means evil, in fact they have no doubt raised millions of dollars for schools around the nation, and filled countless stomachs with delectable delights.

But, shouldn’t a fundraiser be more than just asking people to buy an overpriced item they’ll have to wait weeks to receive?

The appeal of food fundraisers is that you selling such an tasty (albeit unhealthy) product that the product will sell itself. But how is somebody expected to shell out $25 for a pizza when they can have one delivered by Pizza Hut for $10?

Well my fundraising idea isn’t selling any product, its simply collecting the old cell phones that people (correctly) have chosen not to throw away. Skeptical? You should be after you’ve being pitched every other fundraiser in the book.
Well, let’s start off with this one simple question: How many phones do you have sitting at your house gathering dust, 2,3,4? If you answered none, I’m betting that either your 10 years old, have thrown them away, or hopefully recycled them.

Collect them up and send them in (shipping’s on me) and I’ll pay you more than a buck per phone. I can either re-sell them for re-use or melt them down for their precious metals like gold.
We’ll inventory them for you, e-mail you the report & send you a check, not points or some other arbitrary abstraction of money.

E-Waste (Electronic waste) is the fastest growing waste stream in America, and wouldn’t you rather have your students/kids being part of the solution and fundraise at the same time?

Are you getting the whole pie or just a slice?