Council mulls opportunity for cellphone recycling

By J.W. Schnarr
Vauxhall Advance

Vauxhall could be getting a convenient drop-off box to recycle their old cellphones and other tech-related devices.

During the regular meeting, council accepted for information a letter from the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association in regards to their Recycle My Cell program, which would see the town host a recycling drop-off for the program, free of charge. While council did not make a decision on whether to join the program, Deputy Mayor Richard Phillips said he was not opposed to it.

“If these people want to put up a free box for recycling cellphones, great,” said Phillips. “If they don’t, I wouldn’t feel inclined to pursue this much further.”

Recycle My Cell is a free national recycling program for mobile devices that allows for collection of old and unwanted cell phones, smart phones, and accessories such as batteries and chargers. The CWTA organizes the program and partners with wireless carriers, handset manufacturers, processors, and other interested parties.

According to a handout provided by the CWTA, the program has been operating on a voluntary basis under a memorandum of understanding with Alberta Environment and Parks since 2011.

The goal of RMC is to reduce the number of handsets in Canadian landfills by providing a convenient way to recycling their tech. They get local municipalities involved with providing information to local residents on how to recycle their mobile devices and where, as well as hosting drop off locations as a means to provide local residents an opportunity to recycle. Drop-off locations can be in private areas for employees only, or they can be in public areas such as libraries, schools, depots, or retail locations.

Following discussion, council accepted the letter for information.

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