To:
UCOP Community
From: Michael Shannon, Manager, IR&C Communication Services
UCOP Communication Services is pleased to host a cellular phone recycling
drive in partnership with the PaceButler Corporation (http://www.pacebutler.com/
), a non-profit organization. Here's your chance to get rid of all
those unused cellular phones and cell phone batteries lying around at
home or the office. We will take all functional and nonfunctional cellular
phones and batteries. Cellular phone accessories will not be accepted
during this drive.
PaceButler will assign a monetary value to each functional
phone and battery collected, and issue a check to charities that Communication
Services has selected (detailed below). While PaceButler only will pay
for phones that work, it nevertheless will take all nonfunctional phones
and dispose of them safely.
Recycling cellular phones is important. Cell phones contain potentially
dangerous materials such as lead, cadmium, mercury, and arsenic. If
cell phones are not disposed of properly, these materials may eventually
leach into the soil and groundwater. In addition, civil war in central
Africa has been attributed in part to competition for resources such
as coltan, a valuable ore. Coltan is the source of tantalum, which is
used as a superconductor in cell phones so that batteries, and hence
the phones themselves, can now be smaller.
Recycling phones, and reducing demand for the materials used in cell
phones, may decrease our negative impact on the environment and human
lives. Communication Services wants to do its part to work toward a
cleaner, safer, and more humane global environment. We are excited to
initiate this recycling drive and ask for your support and participation.
When Is the Drive?
August 15 - August 29, 2005
Collection boxes will be placed at the following locations
beginning Monday, August 15.
-- Franklin : Employee lunch room, 5th floor
-- Kaiser Center : Outside room 1209, 12th floor
-- 20th Street, IR&C : Kitchen area, 3rd floor
-- 20th Street, CDL : Contact Garland Giles, 7-3362
-- 1111 Broadway : Contact Gay Adams, 7-9627
-- 1333 Broadway : Contact Hany Jong, 7-3308
The collection boxes will be emptied every Friday through August 26.
Phones may be hand delivered to Communication Services, 1111 Franklin
Street, Room 8330D, through the end of the day on Monday, August 29.
Donated phones will be packaged and shipped to PaceButler via Federal
Express on Tuesday, September 6.
Who Receives the Proceeds?
Proceeds from your cellular phone donations will go to ActionAgainstHunger
and the United States Fund for UNICEF. The
check, issued on behalf of the UC Office of the President, will be earmarked
to provide aid toward the food crisis in Niger. Learn more about these
charities at http://www.aah-usa.org/programs/niger.html,
and http://www.unicefusa.org/site/pp.asp?c=duLRI8O0H&b=25933
.
For more information about the Cellular Phone Recycling Drive, contact
Kimyatta Dorsey, who conceived of and has organized the drive, at Kim.Dorsey@ucop.edu
or 987-0709. Communication Services will send out an e-mail after
the drive detailing the results! Thank you for your support.
