New School Year, New Technologies: Where Do Your Old Devices and Batteries Belong?
Average College Student Owns up to Seven Devices; 75 Percent of Children Under the Age of Eight Have Their Own Mobile Device, All of Which Contain Recyclable Batteries
ATLANTA, GA--(Marketwired - August 21, 2014) - This back to school season, millions of students will head to the classroom carrying new mobile devices containing rechargeable batteries -- all of which can be recycled. It is the perfect time of year to educate about proper recycling to protect the environment.
Recent studies show that the average college student owns up to seven devices(1), a number that has skyrocketed in the past five years. This trend is not exclusive to college students: 75 percent of children under the age of eight now carry their own mobile device, including smartphones and tablets(2).
As technology advances and new equipment is released, children, teens and young adults will replace their old gadgets with new ones causing exponential growth in the number of devices in the marketplace. If children under eight have personal mobile devices now, think about how many they will have used and disposed of by the time they are old enough to drive. How about the number they will use during the course of their lifetime?
For older students, it is projected that 31 percent in college plan to buy a new smartphone in the next year(1). What will happen to all those old devices?
It is more important than ever to educate younger generations about how to properly recycle rechargeable batteries found in mobile devices. These products should not end up in landfills, where reusable materials are wasted and could potentially harm the environment. To avoid these consequences, parents and educators should take an opportunity to teach students of all ages how to be stewards of the environment by recycling old devices and rechargeable batteries.
Through Call2Recycle, Inc., a battery product stewardship organization, retailers like Best Buy, The Home Depot, Lowe's, RadioShack and Staples offer a convenient, no-cost option for recycling rechargeable batteries and cellphones. Once deposited in the collection box, these batteries and cellphones are transported to an approved processing facility where the battery components are broken down to raw material form, from which they are reborn into useful new products such as new batteries and stainless steel products like golf clubs and silverware.
"Over the years, we've seen significant increases in the number of cellphones, tablets and other mobile devices entering the marketplace," said Carl Smith, CEO & president of Call2Recycle, Inc. "More and more, these devices are found in the hands of students and young children who strive to be stewards of the environment, and we need to show them how. Teaching them how to safely and properly recycle their old rechargeable batteries is a great place to start."
About Call2Recycle, Inc.
Founded in 1994, Call2Recycle -- North America's first and largest consumer battery stewardship program -- is a non-profit organization that collects and recycles batteries at no cost for municipalities, businesses and consumers. 2014 commemorates Call2Recycle's 20th anniversary of product stewardship excellence. Since 1996, Call2Recycle has diverted more than 85 million pounds (39 million kilograms) of rechargeable batteries and cellphones from the solid waste stream and established over 34,000 collection sites throughout the U.S. and Canada. Learn more at call2recycle.org.
(1) "Tech-Savvy College Students Are Gathering Gadgets, Saying Yes to Showrooming and Rejecting Second-Screening" Refuel Now. http://www.cruxresearch.com/downloads/refuel%20CE%20press%20release%20061313.pdf
(2) Rideout, Victoria, "Zero to Eight Children's Media Use in America 2013" Common Sense Media. https://www.commonsensemedia.org/sites/default/files/research/zero-to-eight-2013.pdf
