Sep 20, 2004 By Amy Karpinsky 2 min read

CALIFORNIA – What began as a quest to dispose of several useless cellular telephones has turned into a way to collect phones to distribute to people who may not otherwise have access to them. Jeannine Metal, executive secretary for the California Area Chamber of Commerce, said the chamber recently started a cellular telephone recycling event. She said after the phones are collected in various California businesses, they will be turned over to the Washington City Mission and then distributed for use by shut-ins and individuals at women’s shelters.

Metal said she got the idea for the event after assessing her own cell phone situation. She said that after realizing that she has four useless cell phones herself, she figured that other people may have the phones lying around and started searching for a way to put them to good use.

During her research, Metal learned that cell phones contain toxic materials such as arsenic, lead and zinc. She said according to INFORM, an independent research organization that examines the effects of business practices on the environment and on human health, Americans are expected to discard 130 million cell phones, amounting to 65,000 tons, which will go into landfills.

Metal learned that as a way to stop the phones from heading to landfills, places collect the devices to refurbish and redistribute them.

Metal said, for example, an organization in Florida will pay money for cell phones to send to other countries. The money that is obtained from the phones can be given to any charity. Although she considered taking that option, Metal said she felt that rather than sending the phones somewhere else, she thought it was better to keep them in southwestern Pennsylvania, specifically Washington County, to benefit the social service agencies in the county.

She said she is hoping to obtain 500 cell phones within the next six months, a goal that Metal feels is reachable.

The current local collection sites include the California post office, Redstone Pharmacy, Miller’s Hardware, Flowers by Regina, Dentino Insurance and Real Estate and the California Borough Building.

Metal said she is working to secure additional drop-off sites and will announce any that are obtained in the future.