Trade cell phone for pizza

April heralds the arrival of Earth Month, and for the fourth year, Pizza Pizza is providing people with the opportunity to do the environment, the needy and themselves a favour.

They can do it simply by donating old cell phones throughout the month at their neighbourhood Pizza Pizza traditional restaurant.

This is one deposit that will reap instant dividends.

Not only will you be clearing out some of the household clutter, you will help nourish the hungry in communities across the country, since Pizza Pizza will be turning the phones over to the Canadian Association of Food Banks (CAFB) and its Phones-for-Food program. Under this initiative, the recycled phones, regardless of age or condition, are sorted and sold to the remanufacturing industry, which in turn sells the refurbished products to consumers, thereby raising funds for local food banks and keeping the old cell phones out of landfills, where hazardous toxins from the phones might seep.

In exchange for the environmentally conscious gesture, Pizza Pizza will be offering a free slice of cheese or pepperoni pizza to customers who drop off their recycled phone at a Pizza Pizza restaurant. After running this Earth Month initiative for three consecutive years, Pizza Pizza has seen thousands of cell phones returned.

"Earth Month serves as a reminder that all of us share the responsibility of contributing to a cleaner, healthier environment and every positive gesture we can make toward that end, whether it is in April or any other month, is meaningful," said Pat Finelli, chief marketing officer for Pizza Pizza. "The fact that an extremely worthy cause such as the CAFB Phones-for-Food program will also derive benefit from this Earth Month activity gives it all the more impact."

Along with creating increased environmental awareness, the Earth Month campaign is also designed to inform the general public that their old cell phones are indeed recyclable. Recent surveys have indicated that 68 per cent of Canadian households own at least one cell phone. Almost 50 per cent of the survey respondents were unaware that once their cell phones fall into disuse, they can be recycled. And almost 80 per cent of the people surveyed said they would recycle the old cell phone if provided with convenient drop-off points.

Founded in 1985, the Canadian Association of Food Banks is a national charitable organization representing the food bank community across Canada. The organization's Phones-for-Food program generates between $2 and $5 for every wireless device that is donated. Since its inception in 2003, the program has raised more than $300,000. The money has helped provide nourishment to the more than 720,000 Canadians - 39 per cent of whom are children - that access a food bank in a single month.