
We've talked a few times before about recycling your old mobile phone (and other electronics). Here's the latest addition to the lineup, which may be the most enticing service yet: RipMobile.
RipMobile actually gives you an incentive to recycle: you get money-credits which you can spend at a few participating stores (right now Circuit City, MSN Music, RingToneJukeBox.com, and KarmaLoop.com, and they say more are coming). We're not talking full resale value here, but a quick check showed that my phone would get me $65, which is real money. A more ancient model still turned up a $5 credit. They can pay because they're reselling the phones "all over the world", which is the ideal fate of a functioning but no-longer-loved phone.
Caveat: "Phones must power-up and make a test call. We can't pay you for broken phones, but will recycle any and all you send us. That's important, because they all contain toxic materials. The postage is on us, so send it all in."
Seth Heine, the president of RipMobile, is this week's Grist InterActivist:
http://www.grist.org/comments/interactivist/2005/07/11/heine/