Recycling is one of my favorite things. You can recycle old pots or chairs and use them as focal points in the garden. Newspapers and cardboard make great mulch as do grass clippings, and of course what would we do without veggie scraps for our compost?

So I got thinking about recycling consumer goods and shared an article not too long ago about recycling computers. But what about cell phones? What about them, you ask? Well, there was a time when only the elite few had a cell phone. Now we change our phones like we change our garden gloves. The newest and hippest draws some like birds to flower's nectar. So what happens to the old un-new and un-hip phone? Does it get traded in at the phone store? Does it get passed down to the younger sibling like the clothes we passed down in my family? What happens to these cell phones or cell-o-phones, as my mother-in-law would say?

Well, I came up with a few ideas. How about

• strap them together and make a patio chair - just make sure they're deactivated so your visitors don't start ringing
• make a wind mobile
• whip up a quick plant stand for a garden party
• use them as plant markers
• put them all together and make a sunshade

All tongue-in-cheek, of course, so don't try these at home. But seriously, what's a good way to recycle those old phones? Did you know there are national collection centers that will recycle or refurbish them and donate a portion of the proceeds to charities? Call2recycle wants your phones to help the environment and other would-be cell phone owners. And there are a myriad of other organizations that will do the same. Collectivegood.com, charitablerecycling.com, and Verizon are just a few.

According to the Sierra Club, one million phones are thrown away each week. One million! That's 50 million a year. Fifty million old cell phones leaking toxic substances into the environment. Wouldn't it be great if just one person would think before tossing? Happy Gardening!