Don’t Toss That Toxic Cellphone

With cellphone technologies constantly changing — and last year’s must-have feature rapidly waning in coolness factor — it’s no wonder that college students change their handsets every 18 months, according to market-research estimates. But what becomes of the old phone? Tossing it in the trash is not an environmentally friendly option. Cellphone components and batteries contain lead, arsenic, and other toxins that can leach from landfills, contaminating groundwater. The University of Colorado at Boulder and a local company, the Wireless Alliance, are giving students a better option.  The partnership is placing recycling kiosks on the campus to collect discarded phones, which will be sold to the Wireless Alliance and repurposed, reused, or recycled.  Money raised through the program will go to community-development projects.