Celebrate Earth Day In Pennsylvania Area By Recycling Your Old Cell Phones

TREVOSE, PA — On April 22, people across the country will celebrate Earth Day to help recognize the need to preserve our planet. We recycle newspapers, plastic, cans and bottles for this worthy cause. So why not our cell phones?

In recognition of Earth Day, Verizon Wireless Communications Stores throughout New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware will be accepting donations of no-longer-used cell phones through its HopeLine^SM Phone Recycling program. By 2005, about 500 million cell phones will be stockpiled in homes, destined to find their way into the trash at a later time, according to Inform, a New York-based environmental group. An additional 130 million phones, or 65,000 tons of electronic waste, will join them annually. According to environmentalists, the worst place for cell phones is in the trash as chemicals used to treat cell phone components, toxins in their batteries and lead used to solder connections can leak into the groundwater when the devices are tossed into landfills.

In addition to honoring the day dedicated to saving our environment, these wireless phone donations will also serve another worthwhile cause — domestic violence prevention. All wireless phones collected at local stores will be refurbished, recycled or sold, and either phones or cash, will be donated to nonprofit domestic violence agencies.

"HopeLine is an environmentally and socially responsible way to properly dispose of your no-longer-used phones," said Michael Maiorana, director of retail sales for Verizon Wireless' Philadelphia Tri-State Region. "People can drop-off their phones at any Verizon Wireless Communications store in the region."

Domestic violence prevention and education is Verizon Wireless' chief community focus. Through its signature program, HopeLine, the company provides free voicemail boxes to victims residing in shelters and emergency phones to law enforcement agencies to distribute to women at risk.

As a result of HopeLine and related phone recycling programs the company has organized since 1995, Verizon Wireless has collected more than 850,000 used wireless phones for the benefit of domestic violence victims and advocacy groups.

Donations are accepted at all Verizon Wireless Communications Stores in the Delaware Valley. For store locations and additional information, visit www.verizonwireless.com/hopeline.

About Verizon Wireless
Verizon Wireless is the nation's leading provider of wireless communications. The company has the largest nationwide wireless voice and data network and 32.5 million customers. Headquartered in Bedminster, NJ, Verizon Wireless is a joint venture of Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) and Vodafone (NYSE and LSE: VOD). Find more information on the Web at www.verizonwireless.com.

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