AUGUSTA (AP) – A legislative committee today takes up Maine’s latest proposal to mandate cellular phone recycling, hoping to make at least a dent in the 65,000 tons of cell phones Americans dispose of per year.

The Natural Resources Committee will hold a public hearing on a bill that would require cell phone retailers to accept old phones for reuse, recycling or proper disposal.

Rep. Chris Babbidge, D-Kennebunk, submitted a similar bill last session, but a committee compromise called for the Department of Environmental Protection to study the issue.

Supporters of cell phone recycling say keeping them out of the environment is important because the phones contain toxic chemicals such as arsenic, lead, zinc and other substances that have been linked to health problems. The toxins found in cell phones are not considered a danger to people using them.

Several companies are already a step ahead of Babbidge’s legislation and have created a program to promote the recycling of cell phones.

Companies participating in the “Wireless – the New Recyclable” program collect cell phones at retail locations, and some also provide collection through free shipping, according to the DEP’s Web site.

A Michigan-based company called ReCellular Inc. accepts thousands of discarded cell phones, most of them collected through charity fundraisers, and refurbishes them for sale around the world. Phones that aren’t refurbished are salvaged for parts and reusable raw materials. As of last fall, ReCellular was accepting 75,000 used cell phones a week and fixing up more than half of them for reuse in places like Bolivia, Jamaica, Kenya, Ukraine or Yemen.

Since cell phone service was introduced in United States in 1983, the number of subscribers has risen to more than 200 million in 2005, according to the International Telecommunication Union.

Maine has already taken steps to recycle other electronic waste. In 2004, Maine became the first state to hold manufacturers responsible for collecting and recycling obsolete computer monitors and televisions, and other states have followed Maine’s lead since then.