Recycle your phones and help our troops overseas call home

The Rotary Club of Seattle, in conjunction with 23 other area Rotary Clubs, the non-profit Cell Phones for Soldiers, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, and Seattle Goodwill, will sponsor "Cell Phones for Soldiers" throughout June.

The program encourages businesses and residents to recycle their unused or outdated cell phones and other portable communication devices. Collected equipment will be sold to ReCellular; the proceeds are used by Cell Phones for Soldiers (www.cellphonesforsoldiers.com) to purchase calling cards that are given to U.S. military personnel serving around the world.

Approximately half of the phones ReCellular processes are reconditioned and resold to wholesale companies in more than 40 countries.

Phones and components that cannot be refurbished are dismantled and recycled to reclaim materials, including: Gold, silver and platinum from circuit boards; copper wiring from phone chargers; nickel, iron, cadmium and lead from battery packs; and plastic from phone cases and accessories.

For more information, visit www.recellular.com.

The June drive's goal is to deliver at least 10,000 hours of free calling time.

Participating Rotary clubs will collect phones from their members and member businesses. Local residents can support the collection drive anytime during June by donating their old phones and equipment at any Seattle Goodwill donation location, where there will be specially marked boxes (www.seattlegoodwill.org for locations).

People who can't get to a Goodwill location can contribute their phones by printing a mailing label at www.cellphonesforsoldiers.com/Seattle.

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