Fresh off the back of [a href="http://www.google.co.uk"
target="_blank"]National Recycle Your Phone week[/a], a new site has emerged aiming to tempt users into doing their bit for the environment by exchanging their old mobiles for gifts.
New mobile phone trade-in venture [a href="http://www.coolafone.com"
target="_blank"]Coolafone[/a] launched yesterday evening. It values handsets based on credits, which users can then store up and spend as e-vouchers - on treats such as glamorous hotel stays, luxury hampers and music lessons from big names like Blur, Duffy and KT Tunstall.
Old phones are sent to Coolafone using a freepost address. Users can also opt to donate the proceeds of their trade-in efforts to environmental projects such as Solar Aid and Waste Watch.
The site, which supports the exchange of some 2,000 mobile models, reckons that even the oldest of handsets should be good to exchange for something which should prove attractive to those trying to tighten their belts in the current economic climate.
Following a worldwide environmental campaign with celebrities including Sienna Miller and Josh Hartnett, Richard Kilgarriff, the man behind eco-consumer brand Coolaworld opted to bring the worlds of shopping and mobile phone recycling together. Coolafone was created by teaming up as a joint venture with handset recycling specialist Regenerisis Environmental Services.
"At a time when the environment may come second to the economy in terms of public concern, we have developed the most rewarding way to recycle mobile phones, both for consumers and for the planet," said Kilgarriff.
Mark Franklin, managing director of Regenersis, added: "In the UK we replace our mobiles 18 million times a year but less than 20 per cent of these phones are recycled, representing tonnes of toxic landfill and CO2 for future generations to inherit.
"Alternatively we could convert old phones into millions of pounds for the economy and the environment by recycling them with Coolafone."
