I know, I know. I am a liar. I am sorry. I had a busy weekend. Let's get on with it.
Even before we started working on this film, I often chided people for their senseless consumption. One of the items that, to me, seemed (and still does, to the extent that we NEED them) to me to be a bit unnecessary, was cell phones. I know, they make the world smaller, they help us stay in touch, they make sure we are never out of reach if something bad happens. When I start preaching about the perils of cell phone use my aunt often reminds me that if I had possessed a cell phone that one time I got a flat tire when I was 17, it wouldn't have been so scary. I guess it is hard to argue against that point, but given the fact that a cell phone wasn't able to change my tire for me, I still don't think it made much of a difference. In any event, I don't really like cell phones. I find them intrusive, annoying, cumbersome, and terribly inappropriate in movie theatres. The new advent of internet/cameras/music/instant messaging all in your pocket I find particularly irritating, which is why I resisted in getting a phone with bells and whistles as long as possible. If I had to have a phone, I wanted one that made and received calls and little else. This was, of course, until my phone stopped working.
Much to the chagrin of me, and much to the delight of those around me, I was forced to get a new phone last week. Luckily I was in line for a new one through my service provider, so it didn't cost me any money, and it does come with a few extra things. It has a camera (haven't used yet) and supposedly superior internet capabilities (don't plan on using). With all of the wonderful features that came with the phone came a problem: what do with with the old one. Simply by virtue of the fact that I am an environmentally conscious individual, and that I am preaching those values to you all, I cannot simply throw it away, nor do I even want to. As a result, I have spent the last week or so casually looking for a way to recycle it.
I wish I could say that recycling my cell phone was as easy as recycling the bottles and cans which inhabit my 2nd garbage can in the kitchen. Unfortunately, there are very few places where one can actually go in person to drop off one's phone, and see that it will be turned into tin cans, batteries, aluminum cans, mattress springs, etc. I was getting frustrated until I found Chapter 730 of the New York State laws of 2006, requiring:
businesses to accept up to 10 cell phones from any person or provide shipping for those phones.
This is following a trend of companies taking responsibility of their e-waste, something that has already been dealt with on this site. I guess this makes my search easy: all I have to do is walk into my nearest Sprint dealership with a copy of NY State law, and demand that they accept my old phone. It may be the only thing involving my phone I am proud to do.
