The Wellesley Middle School PTO and Wellesley Green Team are partnering to run a cellphone recycling fundraiser that they say will help prevent you from destroying the world with all that nasty stuff (arsenic, lead, etc.) those devices attached to our ears and mouths are filled with. Funds raised through recycling the materials will go to Wellesley Middle School PTO programs, which supports student programming as well as professional development.

The organizations cite research that found millions of old cellphones are stockpiled in U.S. households and millions more are discarded annually. What’s more, mining for the metals used to build smartphones and other gadgets is a huge source of pollution.

The event takes place Monday, June 5 – Friday, June 9. Your used item will be recycled in accordance with EPA regulations. After collection, your recycled phones and devices will go through a triage process to determine their status for reuse. At that time customer data is removed (though you might wanna take things into your own hands and wipe the devices before handing them over). Devices will either be refurbished or shredded for precious metals reclamation. In this process, devices are shredded and metals are extracted for asset recovery.

WMS will collect the following items:

Cell phones of any age or condition * Wall or car chargers * iPods * Digital Cameras * Bluetooths * Air Cards * Leather Cases * Plastic Cases * Paper or CD Manuals

The week of 6/5 – 6/9, please drop off any items you would like to recycle in the drop bins at the Wellesley Middle School, Kingsbury Street and Donizetti Street entrances, in the main office, or hand them to a team of collectors who will come by your car at school pickup between 3:00 p.m. and 3:20 pm. after school at WMS.

If you’d like to volunteer to take part in the event, sign up here: www.SignUpGenius.com/go/10C0C4AA9AB2FABFA7-cell