Americans discard on average 40,000 cell phones every day -- or 150 million phones a year.

For a society so accustomed to consuming and discarding, Dexter-based ReCelluar is encouraging everyone to "Go Green" and recycle these retired cell phones instead of just pitching them.

Recycling or reusing cell phones has a significant benefit to environmental efforts. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, producing 150 million cell phones would consume enough energy to power 285,000 homes for a year, and produce more than 258 million kilograms of carbon emissions.

And, according to the U.S. Geological Survey, 150 million phones contains $94 million of precious metals -- not factoring the cost of recovery -- including gold, platinum, silver, palladium and copper.

And unfortunately, those precious metals can become serious pollution if landfilled.

"We are proud to lend our knowledge and expertise in wireless recycling to help make 'Going Green' for Earth Day a reality," says Chuck Newman, founder and CEO of ReCellular. "This is a great day to build awareness for the small things all of us can do to make a difference."

In honor of one of the largest environmental movements of the year, ReCelluar has compiled five reasons to recycle those abandoned phones rattling around in your desk drawer:

1. They likely still work. More than half of the phones ReCellular receives are still functional, and can be refurbished and reused -- often in developing countries. The United Nations ranks access to communications as the second-most important contributor to quality of life, after health care.

2. They contain valuable materials. Recycling phone circuit boards yields more gold per ton than the average ton of ore from gold mine operations, as well as other precious metals such as silver, platinum and palladium.

3. They can be environmentally damaging. Like all rechargeable batteries, cell phones contain heavy metals and chemicals that can be toxic in landfills, and should always be recycled.

4. They are of value. ReCellular offers businesses up to $150 per phone, and its charitable donate-a-phone programs raised more than $8 million per year for non-profit organizations.

5. They're serving no purpose in the drawer. Really, what are you keeping those phones for? Send them in.

For more information, or to download a prepaid shipping label to donate your phone, visit www.recellular.com.