The Green Groove by Trish Smith
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If you don’t own an iPhone, one of the hippest, coolest gadgets around, then you probably know at least 5 other people who do. And those people are probably fanatic about all of the cool things that they can do with the iPhone, like get directions from Google maps, listen to their favorite iTunes, check their email, text their friends and choose from thousands of entertaining downloadable applications.

I do mean thousands of them. These applications (or apps) cover everything, from music and movies to weather and games. You aren’t considered a “cool kid” until you download at least one of these apps weekly. Well, I think that kids who care about the environment are cool, so I wanted to see if there were apps out there that could make kids cooler and more conscious about the importance of recycling.

Here are four FREE recycling applications that I discovered:

Ecofinder

This iPhone app was released in San Francisco with help from Haku Wale, a creative media service firm. Ecofinder gathers the city’s XML feed and uses location software to tell residents where they can find their nearest recycling facility. San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom wrote a guest editorial for Greenopolis on the app here.

Reycler

Thought up by Siavash Ghamaty, a computer programming guy from California, the Recycler app reminds you what the PEC plastic codes are on the bottom of your recyclables. Now it’s easy to remember the difference between codes 2 and 3!

iRecycle

Earth911 created iRecycle to help people find recycling and disposal centers. With over 100,000 centers to choose from, you’ll get accurate directions to the one nearest you.

Greenpeace Tissue Guide

Do you like to buy recycled products, but can never remember which brands offer them? The Greenpeace Tissue Guide app from Greenpeace and 3rd Whale Mobile lets you search through 100 brands of toilet paper, paper towel, facial tissue and napkin products to see if they are made with 100%, 50% or no recycled materials.

See, you can be a “green cool kid” if you use your iPhone for both entertainment and eco-friendly purposes. Just remember to recycle your iPhone once it crashes from application overload!

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