Donate your old mobile to charity during ‘National Recycle Your Phone Week’

With the launch of ‘National Recycle Your Phone Week’ this week, recycling and asset recovery specialist, Redeem Plc is hoping that charities around the UK will also benefit from the week long phone amnesty.

Recycling Appeal is a programme run by Redeem which offers people the chance to cash in their old mobile phones and donate the monetary value of the mobile phone to a charity of their choice. Redeem Plc has welcomed the week long campaign and hopes that in the economic downturn more people will consider donating their unwanted mobiles to one of the many UK-wide charities it works with through the Recycling Appeal programme.

A recent survey by moneysupermarket.com revealed that 1.5 million mobile phones are thrown away each year in the UK and over two-thirds of people admitted they did not recycle their old handsets. This is despite the damage that mobile phones can do to the environment when not disposed of correctly and the potential cash value that they retain.

Jamie Rae, Chief Executive of Redeem Plc, who runs the Recycling Appeal for some of the UK’s largest charities commented: "In the current economic climate charities are often the biggest losers as the public starts to tighten its belt. Charities need not be victims of the credit crunch too, they just need to think differently when it comes to raising funds or gaining support from the public. In times of economic uncertainty people might be less willing to make cash donations, but they can still support a charity by donating old mobile phones or printer cartridges, which are so often left lying around in drawers unused.

"We hope that this campaign gets the message out there to people that there is value in those unused mobiles and they can be a vital tool to help charities in their fundraising efforts. Recycling Appeal has raised over £5 million for charity and good causes through the recycling programmes, including over £84,000 for the RSPB in the past two years. It is important that charities maintain their vital revenue streams through public donations, but the public also need to be aware of the different ways it can support them.”

The survey said that 8 out of 10 people (80 per cent) have more than one old phone lying around the house. The average teenager owns three mobiles, but only a fifth of them (22 per cent) plan to recycle any.

It also said one in six (15 per cent) people claim to not know how to recycle old mobile phones or didn’t know they could. Redeem will pay an average of £25 for a phone that is in good working condition and some can reach up to £150 depending on the handset.

Janine Drew, fundraising manager for Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation comments on how Recycling Appeal has helped the charity: “We have been fundraising through the Recycling Appeal since 2000 and hope that people will continue to donate their unwanted mobiles phones and printer cartridges as a way of fundraising. It is amazing just how much money some of the phones are worth. The Recycling Appeal campaign works very well for us and to date we have raised over £200,000 through people donating old mobile phones and printer cartridges. We recognise that in the current climate, this might be a better option for many people in supporting charities"

Ends 28 October 2008

Contact Information

Kate Hayward

Senior Account Manager

Redeem Plc

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