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• Historic Fort York David Spittal courtesy murmur.com
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Pizza Pizza is providing people with the opportunity to do the environment, the needy and themselves a favour during Earth Month, simply by donating old cellphones at their neighbourhood Pizza Pizza traditional restaurant in Toronto.

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 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 cellphones out of landfills, where hazardous toxins from the phones might seep.

In exchange, Pizza Pizza will be offering a free slice of cheese or pepperoni pizza to customers who drop off their recycled phone. After running this Earth Month initiative for three years, Pizza Pizza has seen thousands of cellphones returned.

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