Recycle your cell phone ( or that old one in your drawer) and you can finance business loans for women in Latin America.
Recycle To Eradicate Poverty (RTEP) is an iniative started by students and professionals that is now a division of the Chiapas Project, which is an organization that raises microfinance institutions in Latin America. These groups have come together for the One Million Cell Phone Challenge – which is to obtain 1 millions recycled cell phones by 2010 and use the proceeds from the recycled phones to finance loans for poor women throughout Latin America. ”There are 170 million cell phones out there, we just want 1 million. In the age of the Internet, this is possible,” said 22-year-old North Texas Senior and RTEP founder Brian Weinberg.
This is not the only reason you should recycle your old cell phones. Each year over 170 Million cell phones are disposed of and only 20% are recycled according to informinc.org. Cell phones contain toxic elements including arsenic, lead and mercury. What is even scarier is that just one cell phone can contaminate 35,000 gallons of drinking water…yikes…
So, how do you recycle your cell phones? RTEP makes it very easy with its ”free system for change”. All you have to do is visit turnphonesintoloans.org and request FREE prepaid postage bags made of 100% recycled plastic. Up to 5 phones fit each bag (so ask your friends, family, and neighbors if they have any old cell phones) and mail the bag right from your mailbox. Easy and free, you can help the environment, recycle, and finance loans for poor women in Latin America. Not only are you helping the environment, you can help people in need too.
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When recycling becomes an natural part in the lives of more people, this will be a better world for all of us.