Image by City of Charleston

Beginning in January, Keep Charleston Beautiful will be hosting its 3rd Annual Wipe Out Wireless Waste Cell Phone recycling drive to raise awareness about electronic recycling and to reduce the number of cell phones deposited in landfills.

Here's more from the press release:

Each year, Americans retire over 100 million cell phones, of which the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates only 10% are recycled or reused. These small electronic devices are extremely harmful to the environment because they contain lead, mercury, cadmium and arsenic. When not properly disposed of, these chemicals can be absorbed by the soil and washed into local waterways.

In order to reduce the amount of cell phones ending up in our local landfill, KCB is working with local businesses to collect any unwanted cell phones. During the month of January, residents can drop off any unwanted cell phones (no matter how old or broken) to any of these participating locations:

City of Charleston: 823 Meeting Street
Earth Fare: 74 Folly Road
Indigo Books: 472 Fresh Fields Drive
Rising High, 480 East Bay Street
University Books of Charleston: 360 King Street
Blackbaud: 2000 Daniel Island Drive

At the completion of this event, KCB will send all phones to a partnering agency for proper recycling and disposal. Cell phones are either refurbished for reuse or disassembled with all recyclable materials removed with the remaining materials properly disposed of using EPA standards.

This year's goal is to collect over 200 cell phones. Remember, to cancel your phone service delete all of your personal information and contacts off of the phone before handing it over.