TOSS A PHONE, GO TO JAIL:

Due to a new state law that went into effect last week, people
who dispose of old cell phones by tossing them into the trash risk
fines as high as $25,000. From now on, cell phone retailers must
accept the recycling responsibility for old phones; businesses that
fail to devise recycling plans could be shut down. The bill –
authored by Democrat Fran Pavley of Agoura Hills – was designed to
keep cell phone batteries from becoming a toxic nuisance in
municipal landfills. As a result of Pavley’s bill, many of the 215
million cell phones currently in use in the United States will
eventually be sent to a company in Michigan that either refurbishes
and resells the phones – often overseas – or appropriately disposes
of them with other batteries.