Earth Club Hosts Cell Phone Drive, Collects 84 Devices

According to Dennis Mechenich, a science teacher at Arrowhead High School, Earth Day was April 22 and the Earth Club students were seeking your help.

The club was collecting used cell phones, tablets, or inkjet cartridges for a fundraiser at Arrowhead High School. The collection of the cell phones occurred during lunch periods on April 18-20th.

All items collected were sent to a recycling center and the components were be recycled, reused or repurposed. The club earned cash for each item donated. Students could have also dropped off items in Mechenich’s room at South (203) or Alber’s room at North (139).

Students put their name in a drawing for each item donated for a chance to win Earth friendly prizes. Students cleaned out drawers of unused electronics and let the Earth Club make sure those items were properly disposed of and recycled. AHS took charging adapters, too.

AHS senior Kayla Vogt is a member of the Earth Club. Earth Club is a student friendly club that is open to anyone who attends Arrowhead High School. You can email Kiley Bennett, who runs the club, to find out how to join. Her email is [email protected].

Vogt said it’s important it is to donate your extra phones and other electronics.

“I feel like this is an opportunity for people to get rid of a bunch of their old electronics that just sit in their cabinets and collect dust. Some people just throw their old phones away which isn’t good for the environment. This way people can get rid of stuff and knows that it is going to a place that isn’t bad for the environment. The club also gets money in return that they will most likely use to set up more drives like this,” said Vogt.

Alex Fitzpatrick said, “Your old electronics are chock full of toxic stuff that should never make it to a landfill, like arsenic, lead, and cadmium. If those materials make it into landfills, they can potentially leak into our ecosystem, damaging plant and animal life and potentially impacting our food supply. The green argument aside, there’s another good reason not to toss your old tech: It keeps your personal information safe. If you throw away your old computer, there’s no telling who might be able to get their hands on your hardware—and, by extension, your data.”

AHS Senior Tori Dahl is also in Earth Club. Dahl says she thinks this should be a drive that occurs at all schools.

“I worked the stand that had the box that people put their devices in during lunch. There are so many kids at Arrowhead and I feel like a decent amount donated…But if you think about it, if we had a drive at all the schools around the area, including the feeder schools, we could collect so many devices,” she said.

Mechenich said, “There were 84 devices collected and five inkjet cartridges. Devices collected included: four tablets, 11 iPods, 5 iPhones, 6 Samsung phones, 5 LG phones, and a variety of other flip or slide type phones. All of the phones are sent to EcoPhones Recycling Fundraiser. They will recycle materials from the phones or fix and resell any phones that they can. They will pay the Earth Club based on market value of each device. More importantly, the phones will not end up in a landfill potentially contaminating our environment.”

The prizes for people that donated include: Earth Day Every Day T-shirts went to: Collin Schmitz, Maggie Hartnett, Austin Reed, Kathy Wang. Picnic Basket Gift Certificates went to: Natasha Keidl, Abbey Tessmer, Gabbi Pancheri, Ashlyn Albers.

“If you are ever at a loss of what to do with your old phones, never throw them away. Find a place to recycle them,” said Dahl.