If you’ve been talking about greening up and making some extra cash, you might want to start with your cell phone.

The average American buys a new cell phone every 12 months, meaning more than 100 million working phones
become unused every year, with countless numbers ending up in landfills.

But instead of being thrown in a drawer or in the trash, cell phones can now be traded in for cash or other incentives through a unique eco-friendly service.

Called Flipswap, the program–which also accepts iPods–gives all donated devices to charities or recycles devices that can no longer be used. Just as important, though, the group plants a tree for each device it recycles.

In 2007 alone, the program put enough phones back into use to keep the equivalent of 50 tons of waste out of
landfills. You can trade your device in through a simple three-step online process or find a store locator at
www.flipswap.com.