Fones4Schools offer cash for old mobile phones

Introducing sustainability can be a daunting prospect for many schools, especially if there’s a belief that already over stretched financial resources will be stretched even further. However, there are many activities that can help your school and community to develop a practical approach to sustainability.

One of the simplest and easiest ways to introduce sustainability into schools is through mobile phone recycling. Over 1700 mobile phone handsets are upgraded every hour in the UK; that’s 15 million every year, and what we do with these redundant mobiles is becoming more and more of an issue.

Mobile phone recycling campaigns, such as Fones4Schools, part of the Eazyfone Group, provide schools with a way to minimise the negative environmental aspects of disposal, but also a way that sustainability can actually help schools to raise vital funds.

The Fones4Schools campaign offers a method of fundraising, through sustainability, but most importantly schools don’t incur any financial cost to benefit and it’s simple and easy to take part in.

The campaign is unique. It offers cash for any mobile phone, of any age and condition, and pupils receive prizes based on the number of phones they collect; the greater the number of mobile phones, the better the prizes. For every 200 mobile phones collected, schools receive £300 cash, around £400 worth of prizes and the reassurance that 100% of the mobile phones received are diverted from landfill sites

Fones4Schools plays a vital role in diverting mobile phones from landfill. Over 600,000 kg of mobile handsets have been reused or recycled in the past 2 years, helping to prevent serious environmental damage. Mobile phones contain toxic substances, including lead, cadmium, lithium and mercury, which can leak into the soil that surrounds landfill sites. This not only pollutes groundwater, but is also harmful to plant and animal life.

Furthermore, landfill sites produce two greenhouse gasses - carbon dioxide and methane. This contributes to the problem of climate change and, although carbon dioxide is the most commonly recognised, methane gas is actually 26 times more harmful to the environment.

The forthcoming Waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) Directive is aimed at encouraging reuse and recycling, and minimising the negative environmental aspects of disposal. WEEE refers to the collection, management and safe disposal of electrical and electronic equipment, including mobile phones and is forcing major changes in the way electronic waste (such as mobile phones) is classified and handled.

Fones4Schools comply with all the requirements outlined for the WEEE Directive, which came into effect on 2 January 2007, making this campaign an ideal way for schools to embrace and benefit from sustainability whilst facilitating the new legislation.

In addition to the direct environmental benefits of the campaign, schools are also able to gain access to educational resources that they can use to develop pupils’ knowledge, values and skills, which are needed to address waste and recycling issues. Reinforcing this through positive activities in the school and in the local area is one of the simplest ways schools can contribute to sustainability.

By 2020 the Government would like all schools to be models of good global citizenship and enhance their educational mission with activities that improve the lives of people living in other parts of the world. Mobile phones collected through the Fones4Schools campaign are reused in developing countries where landline connections are poor, or non existent, thus providing a vital method of communication that such countries would not ordinarily have for decades.

In short, mobile phone recycling offers a way for schools to benefit financially from getting involved in sustainability. There are clear environmental benefits too as well as the educational gains to be achieved with over 90 million redundant mobile phones in the UK alone.  Schools can easily become the prime agents of mobile phone recycling in the UK.

For more information you can visit the Fones 4 Schools website www.fones4schools.co.uk or email enquiries@fones4schools.co.uk.