SaskTel is looking to increase the number of cellphones it collected last year during its first annual recycling drive.
The Phones for a Fresh Start program collected over 5,000 cellphones and accessories during the 2017 drive.
Doug Burnett, the acting president and CEO of SaskTel, said preventing e-waste from heading to landfills is a growing concern.
“We know that finding a place to recycle specific items like cellphones can be hard for people so by launching this drive we’re trying to make it that much easier,” Burnett said in a release.
“The last thing we want to see is those phones somehow ending up in landfills.”
Over 106,000 cellphones have been diverted from landfills since Phones for a Fresh Start started in 2009.
Proceeds generated from the recycled cellphones are used to buy pre-paid phone cards and new cellphones for people fleeing domestic violence.
The Provincial Association of Transition Houses and Service of Saskatchewan (PATHS) has received over 2,800 cellphones and $71,000 in prepaid cards since the start of the program.
People with unwanted cellphones are asked to bring them in to any SaskTel store or authorized dealer between April 19 and April 30.
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