Recycle for Charity
Help support our nominated charities by recycling your old mobile phones and printer cartridges.
Through a new partnership with the experienced professionals at the Recycling Appeal, our charities could earn up to £1 for every used printer cartridge and up to £5 for every used mobile phone donated on our behalf. Considering more than 1.1 billion inkjet cartridges are used around the world, our fundraising potential is tremendous!
As a business, getting involved is easy – simply choose your preferred charity and click the link on the appropriate page. If you have product to send in, you will either receive a freepost envelope or a call from a member of the Recycling Appeal team to coordinate a free collection (of 10 items or more). To ensure the funds your products raise are directed to your chosen charity, click on the relevant link below.
Alternatively, send your product directly to G-Force Communications Ltd clearly stating your chosen charity and we will forward them to the Recycling Appeal Team
The charities currently supported are:
Claire House Hospice
Registered Charity No: 1004058
Claire House is a centre of excellence providing 24 hour respite, palliative, and terminal care for children and young people from 0 - 23 years of age with a life threatening or life limiting illness, and their families.
» read more
The Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation
Registered Charity No: Eng & Wales 1046854 Scotland SC037596
The Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation is the only charity in the UK wholly dedicated to defeating lung cancer, the biggest cancer killer in the world. Our vision is to defeat lung cancer.
» read more
Why Recycle?
Mobile Phone Facts
- 23 million new mobile phones were purchased in the UK (2004 – LG)
- It is expected that one billion handsets will be sold each year by 2009
- There are about 50 million mobile phone subscribers in the UK
- The average mobile phone user will replace their handset once every 18 months.
- It is estimated that less than 20% of all unused mobile phones in the UK are currently recycled
- Estimates state that close to 90 million phones are hiding in drawers and cupboards across the UK (11250 tonnes) - these weigh almost six times as much as the London Eye!
- Mobile phones contain numerous substances which need to be disposed of in safe and efficient manner:
- The Cadmium in the battery from a single old phone could seriously contaminate 600,000 litres of water, enough to fill a third of an Olympic-sized swimming pool. Cadmium is being phased out of new batteries.
- Lead - which affects the immune, endocrine and central nervous systems, and causes serious damage to children's brains - is used to solder components to the printed wiring boards.
- Brominated flame retardants, used in wiring boards and plastic cases, have been associated with cancer, liver damage and problems with the neurological, immune and endocrine systems.
- Beryllium, which can cause serious lung damage, is used in contacts and springs and highly toxic dioxins can be emitted if the phones are incinerated in waste plants.
Printer Cartridge Facts
- More than 1.1 billion inkjet cartridges are used annually around the world - laid end to end this would be 129 times as long as the Great Wall of China
- Approximately 3.5 litres of oil are required to produce each new laser printer cartridge and 90 ml of oil is used to produce each inkjet cartridge
- Each discarded empty laser printer cartridge adds approximately three pounds of waste to our landfills
- The plastic used in a typical cartridge is made of engineering grade polymers and is expected to take up to 1000 years to decompose
- More than 30 million inkjet cartridges are dumped each year in the UK (1800 tonnes) - the same weight as 18 Blue Whales
- Industry analysts estimate a spent cartridge can be reused or remanufactured between 3 to 7 times - every cartridge remanufactured is one fewer going directly to the landfill
- 20-30% of all cartridges sold worldwide are remanufactured