The NYTimes is reporting that the EPA is launching a new public campaign  aimed at getting consumers to recycle those phones.  The $175,000 campaign “Recycle Your Cellphone.  It’s an Easy Call” is particularly aimed at the 18-34-year-olds in an attempt to recycle as many of the 150 million cellphones that are taken out of service each year in the US alone.

Eleven companies — AT&T, Best Buy, LG Electronics, Motorola, Nokia, Office Depot, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, Sprint, Staples and T-Mobile — are partners in the campaign. Each has promised to collect phones and hold recycling events through their own programs.

Craig Rubens of GigaOm’s earth2tech has a very nice post titled “Big Green Business of Cellphone Recycling“ with lots of useful information.

Some further links:

Information on CTIA’s website about cellphone recycling is here.

Or, maybe this will motivate you further: National Geographic says that recycling your old cellphone could save African gorillas.

Here is a link to an older article in the NYTimes with names of several companies that recycle cellphones.  Do check to see if the links still work. 

Lots of companies and non-profits are working in this area.  Some examples are: the link to Earthworks is here and the link to Wirefly is here.