Our Community in Fairfax County, Virginia

The Fairfax County Police Department can help you recycle that older cell phone you no longer use!  Just bring your old cell phones to the Mason Station, located at 6507 Columbia Pike in Annandale, and it will get recycled for you.  If you have any questions, you may call the Mason Station at 703-256-8035, or send an e-mail to Courtney.Thibault@fairfaxcounty.gov.

Have you upgraded to a new cell phone recently, or plan to do so?  The new features are nice—cameras, videos, music, Internet—and the new phones have better reception than ever.  So what good is an old phone, once the number has been switched to your new one?

First of all, your old phone can still be used to make emergency calls.  If someone in your family doesn't have a cell phone of their own, they can always go out with a deactivated phone and call for emergency help.  Just keep the phone charged and turned off until needed.

Nowadays, so many people have their own cell phone, you may not need another phone that can only make emergency calls.  It may seem that the only thing to do with your old phone is throw it away.  But don’t!

There are charities that want your old cell phones, and there a companies that will pay you for them.  Just search the Internet for "old cell phones" and you will find them.  Whether you want cash or want to donate, make sure you check out several sites.

You phone has to be working and have a memory card.  It would be a good idea to clear out any messages and the address book.  You don't need any of the accessories, such as chargers, which might seem strange, but not really.

It turns out that our old cell phones are valuable in countries where people cannot afford new phones.  These countries don't use the same electricity as in the USA, so your charger won't work wherever the phones are resold.  And while some companies go to great lengths to emphasize how recycling old cell phones is good for the environment, they also are making money by selling the phones.  You can too, either as a tax deduction or cash.