Turn Phones Into Loans

As an environmentalist, I always like to hear about initiatives in microfinance that attempt to address the two most pressing international issues: poverty and the environment.

A group of enterprising students at the University of North Texas has created a partnership with the Chiapas Project–an organization that funds microcredit in Latin America–and Phoneraiser–a for profit that recycles old cell phones. The results are simple and understandable: fewer phones in landfills, more money for microfinance, and a bit more space in that desk drawer of yours where you have stashed those old cell phones you don’t know what to do with.

Check out the site, and consider passing it along to others who may not know what to do with their old electronics.