Another School Year, Another 'Green' Opportunity to Help the Environment

Another school year is beginning which means fresh school supplies, new gadgets and another opportunity to do something good for the environment.

Students and parents upgrading to the latest Verizon Wireless device can donate their old wireless phones to the Verizon Wireless HopeLine® program. By doing so, they not only help the environment, they also support domestic violence victims.

HopeLine collects old cell phones, batteries and accessories in stores or by mail. All phones given to HopeLine that can be refurbished are sold for reuse and the proceeds are used to provide phones to domestic violence victims or cash grants to the organizations that assist them. Phones that are not salvageable are recycled in an environmentally sound way under a zero landfill policy and in accordance with the Environmental Protection Agency’s R2 recycle policy.

So far in 2009, HopeLine has:

· Recycled more than 5,000 phones, saving 11,000 kilowatt hours of energy – enough energy to power one U.S. household with electricity for a year.
1 Kept almost 9,000 pounds of spent batteries out of landfills through the Rechargeable Battery Recycling Corporation
2 Given more than 4,000 phones with airtime to domestic violence agencies across the country.

· These phones included nearly 12 million minutes of service.
1 The 4,000 phones were put good use on the most reliable wireless network, instead of possibly ending up in the trash.

Even if a phone upgrade isn’t on the agenda this season, HopeLine gives students a chance to make a difference in their communities while learning more about the importance of recycling old phones. From ongoing collections at large universities to elementary students hosting a phone drive, HopeLine has partnered for many successful events. Read more here: http://aboutus.vzw.com/communityservice/PhoneDrives.html .