The holidays have come and gone, but not without their usual pleading from the retail industry. Here's what I've learned- if I don't buy my wife diamonds, it means I'm a rotten husband, and cellphones make better gifts than ponies.

As happy as we all are to get these technical goodies as holiday gifts, it leads us all to an interesting dilemma come January.

What to do with all the old stuff?

(Quick aside: the technical term for these old electronic home items is e-waste. I don't care for that term, personally- it sounds like something unpleasant left over after a wacky New Year's Party, but I digress.)

Much like the Smithsonian, my home office literally houses a historical exhibition of my personal mobile phone collection. Phones, home chargers, car chargers, leather cases, the whole she-bang. Of course, I always save them under the heading of, "but what if something happens to my current phone? It's always good to have a backup!"

Of course, if that actually did happen we all know I'd go running to the store for a new, flashier gadget faster than you can say '2-year commitment required.'

But, back to the original problem- I've got these phones taking up all kinds of valuable space in my junk drawer. What could be worse?

How about these things sitting in landfills, deteriorating, with batteries corroding over time?

Here at Project Green, we've checked out many cool things to do with old phones and equipment. Help out the environment, and help a fellow human being:

Cellphones For Soldiers

Special Olympics Phone Donation Program

Recycling For Charities

Eco-Cell

Recycle For Breast Cancer

Charity Guide: Recycling Cellphones

These are just the quickest ones we found! For more, just click here for the any one of over a million links that could show you how to say goodbye to your dear old digital friend in a environmentally responsible fashion. 

Joe Gura is the Director of Digital Media for KSTW-TV, CW11 Seattle. The opinions expressed in this column are strictly his and are not to be construed as a commercial endorsement.