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Cell Phones
- Global: 800 million people around the world currently
use cell phones.
- Canada: Millions of out of service cell phone handsets
are stock piled in homes and offices.
- Cell phone users change handsets an average of every
18 months.
- The supply of cell phones is driven by faster change
in technology and consumer demand for additional features.
- Nickel-cadmium batteries used in cell phones are considered
hazardous waste.
- Reusing cell phones means that expensive mineral and
mining processes with harsh environmental effects can be
lessened or avoided.
- Cell phones contain toxic elements like arsenic, beryllium,
cadmium, antimony, lead and mercury. These toxins leak
into the ground water and infect everything from wildlife
to drinking water.
Printer Cartridges and the Environment
 In
the recycling process, the entire cartridge is reused because
it is ‘remanufactured’ to be a new cartridge.
- There are over 100 million printer cartridges used in
Canada each year. Only 5-10% of these are presently recycled.
- 300 million laser and inkjet cartridges go to landfills
every year in North America.
- The plastic used in each cartridge takes more than 1000
years to decompose.
 Stacked end to end, cartridges thrown away in North America
in one year would cover a distance of over 38,000 km -
enough to circle the earth.
- Two and a half ounces of oil are used to make the plastic
for every inkjet cartridge produced.
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