They’re so much a part of our lives that they’ve almost become an afterthought. Cellular phone technology has grown a lot over the past few decades. One Western New York recycling company helped with a major exhibit in our nation’s capital — detailing their evolution.

It should be a museum exhibit, the bin of old cell phones that Robert Burns is rifling through.

“This one was super futuristic with the sliding keyboard,” said Burns, director of marketing at Sunnking in Brockport. “This phone with the full-blown camera on the back.”

It’s all obsolete technology that’s reached the end of the road.  

“This is stuff that we were just going to shred,” said Burns, regarding the box of old mobile phones. “Anyway, these were going to get recycled and broken down.”

That’s what they do at Sunnking, the electronics recycling firm which collects old cell phones and much more. But phones are what piqued the interest of the folks at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. for their newest exhibit.

Burns says the firm’s involvement began with an email.  

“Didn't expect anything back, and then they emailed. I was surprised, and it went from there,” he said. 

Curators at the Smithsonian asked for older phones that would have otherwise been recycled. Sunnking sent hundreds of old devices to the nation’s capital for an exhibit called “Cellphone: Unseen Connections,” highlighting the evolution of cell phones and their impact on society.

Longtime employee Tammy Maxon is prominently features in the Smithsonian display. She recently traveled to Washington, D.C. for the opening of the exhibit.

“It’s amazing,” said Maxon. “To be honest, there's really no words that you can describe the feeling I had, just thinking that I'm in a museum with dinosaurs and diamonds and all these other important events.”

Maxon just celebrated her tenth anniversary at Sunnking. She’s a manager who oversees the recycling line. Part of the Smithsonian exhibit highlights the responsible recycling of old electronics. Maxon is thrilled, not only to be featured in the museum, but to know her son will get to see it, on his 8th grade trip to Washington, D.C. next year.

“It’s really cool that he gets to brag and show his classmates what his mom does,” she said. “And how important it is to educate the younger people on proper recycling.”

“To see our name, and to know that Brockport, New York is represented in the most famous museum of our country, I think that for us was surreal and still is,”  said Burns.

The cellphone exhibit will remain on display at the Smithsonian through 2026.

“It’s pretty cool,” said Maxon. “Really, really awesome.”