Oklahoma-based Pace Butler Corporation has a fundraising plan that not only helps schools and charities raise money, but is beneficial to the environment as well. Essentially, organizations collect old cell phones send them to Pace Butler who then evaluates the phones and issues a check.
More than 78% of the nearly 70,000 phones they receive each month are functional and capable of being repurposed. As part of their service, they provide secure data destruction and reset the devices back to the factory setting. Phones that are no longer usable are recycled at an ISO certified destruction facility.
While the success of a fundraising program like this is clearly dependent on the number and quality of the phones collected, it’s a “win-win” anyway you look at it. The school or charity will earn money on the usable phones they collect and will help ensure the proper disposal of unusable devices. With cell phones being replaced every 21 months the ingredients for a successful fundraiser are certainly available. For more information visit the fundraising page on their website.
The product life cycles for household electronic devices is getting shorter everyday. Cell phones, tablets, GPS, DVD players, computers, digital cameras and other electronic devices have in a relatively short amount of time become integral parts of our lives. On average U.S. cell phone users replace their phones every 21.7 months according to a study conducted by Recon Analytics. The EPA estimates that U.S. households own nearly 3 billion portable electronic devices (that’s about 26 per household). Many of those devices still work but are no longer used.
So, the U.S. household average is 26, how many do you own? I counted 27 at our house (Good, finally, I’m above average). By the way, does anyone need a Sony Walkman? Over the next few weeks I’ll be exploring options for making good use of my electronic menagerie.
San Diego-based ecoATM has made it easy for consumers to eCycle old cell phones and other portable electronic devices. According to their website, the self-serve ecoATM kiosk ”quickly inspects and assigns real-time secondary market value, collects/bins portable devices, provides payment to the consumer, and administrates any additional trade-in promotions/discounts loaded by the OEM and/or retailer.” Consumers can accept or reject the offer and even have the option of donating all or part of the proceeds to charity.
Watch this video to see how it works.
While most of the kiosks are located in Southern California (none in Oklahoma yet), the company plans rapid expansion this year.
Eyeglasses collection boxes are located in Oklahoma City-County libraries
Prescriptions change, styles change, so sometimes we wind up with eyeglasses we no longer use or want. The Lions Club makes it easy to put those old eyeglasses to a good use. Old eyeglasses may be donated through collection boxes located in each of the libraries in the Oklahoma City-County Library system (click here to see the list of libraries). The glasses are picked up each month, then taken to a private prison where they are cleaned, repaired, calibrated and labeled. From there they are sent to The Texas Eyeglasses Recycling Center in Midland where they are boxed to be shipped for the next international mission.
Lions accept prescription and reading glasses in metal or plastic frames as well as sunglasses. There is a particular need for children’s glasses.
According to their website, it costs the Lions Club less than eight cents per pair to get eyeglasses to someone who really needs them. To learn more about the significant need for eyeglasses and the tremendous impact they can have on the lives of the recipients, visit this page on their website: 153 Million Reasons Lions Recycle for Sight.
This grand piano was created by Chris Gilmour out of cardboard. Photo by Marco De Palma. (Photo used by permission.)
In looking for additional ways to reuse all of the cardboard I received for Christmas, I discovered some amazing artwork created out of cardboard. While there are several excellent examples available online to see, I particularly like the artwork of Chris Gilmour. To see more outstanding examples of his artwork, including works in progress, visit his website at ChrisGilmour.com.
This Fiat 500 was made by Chris Gilmour out of cardboard and glue. Photo by Marco De Palma. Photo used with permission.
The Edmond Recycling Center accepts corrugated cardboard and chip board
I did. I got some other stuff too, but mainly cardboard. Curbside recycling programs are great but typically don’t take cardboard. Neither do the Green & Yellow paper recycling bins seen around Oklahoma City. According to the EPA paper and cardboard take about 40% of the space in a landfill.
The Recycling Center in Edmond accepts both corrugated cardboard and chip board. Corrugated cardboard has a ruffled layer between two flat sheets of cardboard and is often used for packing. Chip board is a lower grade of cardboard used in shirt boxes. food boxes, etc. Even though there were three very large containers for cardboard, they were filling up quickly while we were there, so it is important to flatten the boxes before putting them in the container. The Recycling Center is open Monday through Friday from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm and on Saturday from 8:00 am til Noon. It is located on northeast corner of I-35 and Covell. The entrance to the facility is located on Recycle Drive located off Air Depot just north of Covell.
The City of Edmond has several options for helping residents dispose of their Christmas trees. Through January 12, 2012 trees may be dropped off at Hafer Park or Mitch Park. The trees will be ground into mulch, which will then be available in February. Diana Baldwin’s article on NewsOK.com today provided great information on additional options in Edmond. Here is a link to the article: Edmond sets locations to drop off Christmas trees.
Two people, (in fact the only two people who have ever read my blog), asked me if I had ever heard of “Freecycle.” When 100% of my audience is interested in something, it seems well-worth pursuing.
According to their website, The Freecycle Network was introduced on May 1, 2003 by Devon Beal through an email to 30 or 40 friends and some nonprofit organizations in Tuscon, Arizona. At the time Beal worked for a small nonprofit group that offered recycling services and provided transitional employment to those in need. Believing that there was a better way to match items being discarded with people who could use the items, an email group was formed to facilitate those transactions.
Their mission statement is: “Our mission is to build a worldwide gifting movement that reduces waste, saves precious resources & eases the burden on our landfills while enabling our members to benefit from the strength of a larger community.”
The Freecycle Network has more than 5,000 local groups and nearly 9 million members in 85 countries. Seventy-six local groups are listed in Oklahoma. The Oklahoma City group has more than 5,500 members.
Joining one of the local groups is a very simple process. Setting a user name and password, providing an email address and agreeing to the terms and conditions are the only requirements.
On the local group pages items “wanteds” and items “offered” are listed in an easy to read format. However, other than the wanted and listed designations, the listings are not categorized. On the Oklahoma City pages I found 187 items “offered” and 844 items “wanted”. Pets, clothing, computer equipment and a “push lawnmower that works sometimes” were just a few of the things being offered to other members. The most interesting listings were for the things members wanted. Many of those requests were accompanied by descriptions of difficult personal circumstances such as financial trouble, health problems or abusive relationships. There was also a request for yarn for crocheting projects for the scarves and hats that are then given to those in need. Many requests were for clothing, household items, appliances and furniture. There were requests for coupons out of the Sunday newspaper, mason jars for a wedding and Christmas and Hanukkah decorations for a school classroom.
At the very least this is a most interesting concept.
The poll shown below is not intended as an invitation to join The Freecycle Network but rather to measure interest in the concept.
The OKC Furniture Bank is located at 3922 NW 10th in Oklahoma City
Inspired by the work being done through The Furniture Bank of Ottawa, three Oklahoma City faith-based organizations: The First Baptist Church of Oklahoma City, Skyline Urban Ministries (an affiliate of the Oklahoma United Methodist Conference), and Catholic Charities came together to create The Furniture Bank of Oklahoma City. The furniture ministry is designed to help refugees, the working poor and foster families create homes with dignity. In addition to those groups, people who lose homes in disasters, women who are fleeing abusive situations and others in need could also benefit from the ministry.
The 7,500 square foot store is located at 3922 N.W. 10th Street in Oklahoma City. The showroom is filled with sofas, chairs, tables, beds, lamps, rugs, paintings, dishes and other household items arranged much like you would find them in any other furniture store. There is also space for volunteers to work on refurbishing some of the donated furniture items.
The Furniture Bank is only open by appointment to those who have been referred by one of the sponsoring ministries. The shoppers pay a nominal amount for the furniture, but those who have no money can volunteer at one of the sponsoring organizations in exchange for their purchases.
Donations may be dropped off at The Furniture Bank, 3922 NW 10th on Saturday Mornings from 9:00 AM until Noon. For more information call 405-905-5826.
The purpose of this blog is quite simply to help any of my fellow 1,322,458 residents in the Greater Oklahoma City Area find good uses for the stuff they no longer need.
The site will include information and links to organizations in the Greater Oklahoma City area who will either benefit from the things you no longer need or will help ensure that they are properly recycled. Eventually, I hope to have numerous items listed along with multiple options for recycling or donating them.
While every effort will be made to provide accurate and timely information, I would recommend checking with the organization before making the donation.
A few years ago, I read that there were 30 million bloggers around the world with an average audience of one. So, if you are reading this blog, chances are pretty good that I’ve just doubled my readership and I thank you.
If you are fortunate enough to own stuff (and maybe at times more than you need), then please consider this resource for helping decide what to do with all your stuff.
