T-Mobile gives its device recycling program a charitable twist in time for the holidays

According to estimates by the US Environmental Protection Agency, people throw away over 135 million cellphones each year. Instead of tossing your phone in the garbage, it might be better to just recycle your phone through T-Mobile, since the carrier will donate to charities for every device that is recycled.

From December 1 through the end of the month, you can visit your local T-Mobile store and recycle your old phone or tablet. The carrier will match whatever your device is worth, regardless of the condition or age of the device, and will donate all proceeds to Feeding America and Team Rubicon.

To provide some context, Feeding America is a nonprofit with a network of over 200 food banks that, along with numerous food pantries, soup kitchens, shelters, and other agencies, feed over 46 million people. Team Rubicon is an American NGO that provides disaster relief, with roughly 70 percent of its volunteers being military veterans. Full disclosure: I worked with Team Rubicon to provide disaster relief to those affected by Hurricane Sandy back in 2012, and they were great people to work with, so the money would, in my opinion, be well-deserved.

T-Mobile says it has pledged a minimum matching donation of $1 million to be split equally between the two charities. The carrier also says that there is no limit to how many devices you can recycle, so make sure you find those Sidekicks and Motorola Razrs that you’ve presumably stocked up on over the years.

T-Mobile has been in somewhat of a giving mood as of late. Yesterday, the magenta-clad carrier donated $2 to the American Red Cross and Boys & Girls Clubs of America for every tweet with #GivingTWOgether. Also, its Home Run for Hurricane Recovery resulted in over $2.78 million being donated to hurricane recovery efforts back in October.

If you want to see how much your device is worth before heading out to a T-Mobile store, go here and fill out the different fields.