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Cell phones
Accepted at 1 location
Cell phones are electronic devices made of precious metals, copper, and plastics that can be recycled to recover valuable materials.
Source: epa.gov : 04/01/2010: EPA Highlights Recycling Opportunities During National Cell Phone Recycling Week (1)
Cell phones Summary
Accepted Locations

No electronics that use refrigerant or ran on gas / oil (recycle these at FNSB landfill instead)
No mercury containing electronics (thermostats / relays)
No vacuum cleaners
No CD's, floppy disks or audio / video tapes.
No glass components (coffee pots, glass microwave trays, glass bulbs in string lights).
No glass lightbulbs of any kind.
No smoke detectors that are not opto-electric.
No automotive batteries, or batteries that can be "filled" (recycle these in several other locations instead - see batteries - automotive in this guide)
No light fixtures (electronic components removed from fixtures are OK)
No PCB containing ballasts (ballasts that state they contain no PCB's OK)
Last updated on July 31, 2026 by Green Star GM
About Cell phones
What it is
Electronic products are made from valuable resources and materials, including metals, plastics, and glass, all of which require energy to mine and manufacture. Reusing or recycling cell phones helps the environment by saving energy and conserving resources, and prevents air and water pollution and reduces greenhouse gas emissions that occur during manufacturing and processing. For every 1 million cell phones recycled, we can recover 75 pounds of gold, 772 pounds of silver, 33 pounds of palladium, and 35,274 pounds of copper.(1, 2, 3)
How it’s recycled
Cell phones are typically recycled through a multi-step process where items are broken down into their component materials and prepared for reuse on the commodities markets, with the recycling process separating equipment into component parts—such as precious metals, non-precious metals, and plastics—making these materials available to manufacturers.(1, 2, 3)
How to prepare it
Common mistakes
Environmental impact
Electronic waste is the fastest growing wastestream in the world, and while it only accounts for about 2-5% of our trash, it's responsible for 70% of the toxic material in our wastestream; electronics contain dangerous chemicals that can cause health problems, and when landfilled, dumped, or burned, those chemicals pollute soil, leach into groundwater, and cause air pollution. The energy saved by recycling even one cell phone is enough to power a laptop for 44 hours.(2, 3, 4)
Sources & additional reading
- 04/01/2010: EPA Highlights Recycling Opportunities During National Cell Phone Recycling Week epa.gov
- Electronics Donation and Recycling | US EPA epa.gov
- 02/12/2008: Cell Phone Recycling is an Easy Call epa.gov
- Green Star of Interior Alaska-Electronics Recycling iagreenstar.org
- Where do I recycle electronics in Anchorage? environmentamerica.org
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➜General FAQs1
So my question….how do you manage to make used white paper and old used white envelopes into something? How are they so different from all other paper that they need to be separated out? It has boggled my mind for so long so I decided to finally ask. Thanks so much! Sue R
Hi Sue - thanks for the great question. We do not make white paper into things, but the FNSB's downstream processor, Smurfitt Westrock does. The reason that white (vs other colored paper) is "different" is that the fibers have not yet been dyed, so white paper can become white again, while dyed fibers cannot. For this reason, the borough is able to recover more value for white paper than mixed, and so we separate and bale the white paper separately. This is very similar to the difference between colored and "natural" (translucent uncolored) HDPE #2 plastic. You can make colored from natural HDPE, but you cannot make natural from colored. Similarly, the FNSB receives more per ton for natural than colored #2's so we separate those as well. It gets pretty confusing, but success in recycling truly comes down to sorting. At some point even otherwise recyclable material is considered a contaminant if it is in with the wrong thing.
➜Material FAQs1
➜Paper (white / office)1
So my question….how do you manage to make used white paper and old used white envelopes into something? How are they so different from all other paper that they need to be separated out? It has boggled my mind for so long so I decided to finally ask. Thanks so much! Sue R
Hi Sue - thanks for the great question. We do not make white paper into things, but the FNSB's downstream processor, Smurfitt Westrock does. The reason that white (vs other colored paper) is "different" is that the fibers have not yet been dyed, so white paper can become white again, while dyed fibers cannot. For this reason, the borough is able to recover more value for white paper than mixed, and so we separate and bale the white paper separately. This is very similar to the difference between colored and "natural" (translucent uncolored) HDPE #2 plastic. You can make colored from natural HDPE, but you cannot make natural from colored. Similarly, the FNSB receives more per ton for natural than colored #2's so we separate those as well. It gets pretty confusing, but success in recycling truly comes down to sorting. At some point even otherwise recyclable material is considered a contaminant if it is in with the wrong thing.
➜Location FAQs1
➜FNSB Central Recycling Facility (CRF)1
So my question….how do you manage to make used white paper and old used white envelopes into something? How are they so different from all other paper that they need to be separated out? It has boggled my mind for so long so I decided to finally ask. Thanks so much! Sue R
Hi Sue - thanks for the great question. We do not make white paper into things, but the FNSB's downstream processor, Smurfitt Westrock does. The reason that white (vs other colored paper) is "different" is that the fibers have not yet been dyed, so white paper can become white again, while dyed fibers cannot. For this reason, the borough is able to recover more value for white paper than mixed, and so we separate and bale the white paper separately. This is very similar to the difference between colored and "natural" (translucent uncolored) HDPE #2 plastic. You can make colored from natural HDPE, but you cannot make natural from colored. Similarly, the FNSB receives more per ton for natural than colored #2's so we separate those as well. It gets pretty confusing, but success in recycling truly comes down to sorting. At some point even otherwise recyclable material is considered a contaminant if it is in with the wrong thing.







































