Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Mobile-Phone Industry Considers Recycling as Option for Unused Handsets

From: Marcel <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 20 Feb 2003 02:56:07 -0500

Mobile-Phone Industry Considers Recycling as Option for Unused Handsets

February 19, 2003 11:07pm

Feb. 19--Adam Thornton, a 26-year-old limousine driver, has had four mobile phones in the
past three years.
All but one are still in his Durham home, stuffed in a closet or sitting by his bed. He's
not quite sure why he
keeps them around -- "I think I'm a pack rat," he explains -- as their ringers have long
been silenced by his
penchant for new technology and service plans.

"By the time I decide to get rid of them, they're
no longer state of the art," said Thornton,
recently shopping for his fifth phone at Action
Wireless in Raleigh's Crabtree Valley Mall. "I
end up convincing myself ain't no one else
going to use them."

It's a common story among cell-phone
customers who, lured to new models by the
promise of expanded features or better service,
are piling up or tossing out old handsets.

"There must be an old cell-phone heaven," said
Sharon Boyd of Raleigh, who works at N.C.
State University and has donated two of her
retired devices to charity. "I don't know what
we do with all of them."

That's a growing challenge for a nation
enamored with instant communication, where cell phones are carried by 137 million people,
almost half the
population. It's prompting carriers and other organizations to look for disposal
solutions, concentrating
mostly on recycling.

The nature of the mobile-phone industry creates much of the handset waste. Carriers built
networks with
competing technologies, meaning customers who switch providers -- and about 30 percent do
so every year
-- must buy a different phone. They then must find a place for their old ones.

By 2005, about 500 million will be stockpiled in homes, destined to find their way into
the trash at a later
time, according to Inform, a New York-based environmental group. An additional 130
million, 65,000 tons of
electronic waste, will join them annually.

Although that is small compared with computers, which create as much as 400,000 tons
annually, both
pose similar environmental risks. Chemicals used to treat components, toxins in their
batteries and lead
used to solder connections can leach into groundwater when the devices are tossed into
landfills. And,
because phones are small, there's a good chance that is where they will end up.

"It's very troubling," said Eric D. Most, director of the solid-waste prevention program
for Inform. "The more
we started to examine it, the more we realized how problematic wireless waste is."

So mobile-phone carriers and wholesalers developed programs to give phones second lives in
the hands of
other customers or in other products, such as milk jugs. They have teamed up with
retailers, charities and
other organizations to make their setups work.

The biggest of the programs is operated by the industry's Wireless Foundation, a nonprofit
backed by
mobile-phone companies, including Alltel and Nextel. The group has collected 1.6 million
phones since
1996 with boxes set up in mobile-phone and other stores and through charity drives.

The foundation's program began as a way to get phones to shelters for battered women.
Consumers would
donate old phones, and the foundation would refurbish and distribute them with donated air
time so those at
risk for abuse could reach 911 or other emergency services quickly.

But when the foundation found the supply of the old cell phones was outpacing demand, it
modified its
strategy. It continues to donate some phones to groups for battered women, but it also
sells a big portion of
them to a wholesaler called ReCellular in Ann Arbor, Mich., and distributes the proceeds
to charities.

"Your phone is not something you can turn into a $5 bill, but we can," said David Diggs,
executive director
of the Wireless Foundation.

The Wireless Foundation is not the only one with that capability. Verizon Wireless
operates a program
called HopeLine, which supports domestic-violence causes. Sprint PCS raises money for
Easter Seals,
which provides services to adults and children with disabilities.

Even some local organizations are benefiting from cell-phone waste. Method Child
Development Center, a
Raleigh day-care center, is raising money by collecting phones instead of sending parents
out to hawk
cookies or candy.

"We haven't done any active solicitation in any way," said Cindy Drew, director of the
nonprofit day-care
center. "It's really easy to ask someone, if they get a new phone ... 'What did you do
with the old one?' "

Once Method collects 25 phones, it sends them to Pace Butler Corp., an Oklahoma company
that
specializes in recycling computers and phones, which pays about $3 for each device it
receives.

"This is something that is an easier way to raise money without having to ask for direct
monetary
contributions," Drew said.

So what do companies such as Pace Butler and ReCellular do with the old phones?

They sell them to wireless businesses around the world. There is a big demand for used
cell phones
throughout Latin America, in Russia and Hong Kong, where people can't afford the latest
models.

Phones that are too old or too hard to fix, usually about 20 percent of every shipment
Pace Butler or
ReCellular receives, are ground and melted. The plastic can end up in products such as
milk jugs, while the
metals are sent overseas for smelting, said Jenifer Chambers, director of charitable
collections for
ReCellular.

Environmentalists say they're pleased carriers are beefing up recycling programs but want
to see more
promotion for them.

"Public awareness of these programs is not out there," said Inform's Most. "There's
nothing on a phone that
says please recycle."

Companies are working to change that. Recently, for example, Motorola offered a rebate on
one of its
phones sold through Verizon Wireless stores, provided customers mailed in an old phone.
Cingular
Wireless is running a similar discount program on a Nokia model now.

Still, recycling and reuse efforts in the United States aren't enough, Most said. More
needs to be done to
protect the environment -- during the manufacturing process and overseas, especially in
Third World
countries where many of U.S. consumers' rejects end up.

"It's problematic that there is no infrastructure in place in these ... countries to
recycle these phones," he
said. "They could end up in a landfill in the Third World countries, or they could end up
in a river or on the
street."

WHERE TO RECYCLE CELL PHONES

If you have old cell phones or batteries to recycle, you may take them to any Alltel, AT&T
Wireless, Sprint
PCS or Verizon Wireless retail store in the Triangle.

The Wireless Foundation also provides information on drop sites:
www.wirelessfoundation.org/ 12give/
where.cfm

And the Rechargeable Battery Recycling Corp. has a list of stores that accept used
batteries:
www.rbrc.org/ index.html

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