Maine Adopts Cell Phone Recycling Law

Following California and New York, Maine became the third state in the U.S. to put a cell phone recycling law in place effective January 1, 2008. This law, closely following California's Cell Phone Recycling Act of 2004, requires retailers who sell cellular phones to provide a free cell phone recycling option to their customers. Starting January 1, 2009 retailers will be required to report how many phones were collected to the Maine division of the EPA.


For years now there has been a trend of state legislatures addressing E-scrap issues by passing laws requiring manufacturers to take back their own products when they've reached their end of life (here is a great site that is keeping track of who's doing what). However, cell phones are getting special treatment because of the value they carry in their second life. Private companies across America have proved for years that cell phone recycling is a profitable venture, and local governments are taking notice.

By making cell phone recycling a law, local legislatures are giving the economy as well as the environment a boost, as the more cell phones there are to be recycled, the more new jobs get created to process those cell phones.