<p>Cleaning out closets and found one of H’s old Blackberrys – old as in about six or seven years old. I am concerned about donating it, as he used it to access emails and I am thinking that some of that information might still be accessible? But what else to do with it?</p>
<p>I think that can all be wiped clean. Our local women’s shelter takes old phones; if they are charged they can be used to call 911 without a calling plan. (Also, our shelter says not having a charger is not a problem; they have all kinds.)</p>
<p>The mobile phone stores (Verizon, AT&T) all have bins that you can use to get rid of the phone responsibily. The way I understand it, there is/are companies that deal with the old phone. The ones that are recent enough to be reused are reconditioned and sold (I bought one on ebay that I think came from a source like that. The phone had been wiped clean, so no info got out about the previous owner.) If not usable, then they are dismanteled and recycled.</p>
<p>Here is another possibility–
[Welcome</a> to Cell Phones for Soldiers!](<a href=“http://www.cellphonesforsoldiers.com/]Welcome”>http://www.cellphonesforsoldiers.com/)</p>
<p>I know someone who got a refurbished phone under the cell phone insurance plan, and there were someone elses photos on it, so I don’'t think I would depend on a third party to erase everything unless I could verify it.</p>