Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Cell Phone Rules May Trash Some Models

From: [email-masked]
Date: Fri, 31 Oct 2003 01:01:39 -0500

Cell Phone Rules May Trash Some Models

By BRUCE MEYERSON
Oct 30, 2003

NEW YORK (AP)

If predictions hold true, millions of cell phones will be put out to
pasture
starting in late November under a new rule allowing people to keep their
phone numbers when switching cellular carriers.
Though many of those phones will find a dusty home in a cluttered desk
drawer, millions could wind up in landfills, leaking toxic metals and
chemicals into the ground.

Many old phones get refurbished or recycled under donation programs that
help charities, but it's a tiny fraction of the 100 million or so
handsets
that are already "retired" each year in this country, according to a new
estimate from the environmental research group Inform Inc
(http://www.informinc.org/).

And now, the number of retired cell phones is expected to grow sharply.

The new rule that takes effect Nov. 24 allowing users to change wireless
companies without losing their phone numbers is expected to motivate as
many
as 30 million people to switch within the first year.

Those who do will need to buy new phones. That's because even carriers
that
use the same network technologies employ different encryption.

So what will become of all those old phones?

While the industry has just launched a new initiative to publicize
recycling, existing efforts by individual wireless companies with
collection
boxes in their stores have so far mustered only modest success.

And even those phones that are refurbished raise environmental concerns
because they still may eventually end up in the garbage, especially if
sold
in poorer nations with no recycling programs - as the majority of
refurbished phones are.

A better answer is for cell phone makers to change the way they make
their
devices, assert environmentalists including David Wood, executive
director
of GrassRoots Recycling Network (http://www.grrn.org/n) in Madison, Wis.

Some such changes may come to this country as a result of a new
directive
passed this year by the European Union, whose computer recycling
requirements helped spur U.S. companies to offer takeback programs. The
new
EU rules will require makers of phones and other electronics to
eliminate
lead, mercury and brominated flame retardants from new products by
mid-2006.

Since most phone makers sell their products globally, it may be more
practical financially to use the same manufacturing processes for all
markets. While the big players concur with that idea as a general
concept,
none will comment on their specific plans regarding the EU directive.

In the meantime, most efforts are focused on extending the useful lives
of
old handsets and recovering potentially harmful chemicals from those
that no
longer work.

Several million used handsets are now being refurbished or recycled each
year. Proceeds from resold handsets and recovered raw materials go to
charities such as Call To Protect, which aids victims of domestic
violence.

But the overwhelming majority of the 100 million handsets retired each
year
are seemingly either tossed in a drawer or the garbage. How many go in
either direction is anyone's guess.

Much like computers, even relatively new cell phones have little resale
value.

For years, wireless companies have been practically giving away handsets
with ever-newer bells and whistles as a lure to potential customers or
an
inducement to stay for existing subscribers who may be eyeing a new
carrier.

As a result, judging from current auction listings on eBay, those
determined
enough to sell a used phone can expect to bring in as little as $5 per
handset.

But if the used phones on display at a typical tag sale are any
indication,
many seem to prefer a drawer as at least a temporary resting place -
possibly because they may worry about pollution, or perhaps they simply
find
it hard to fathom how a cell phone that worked perfectly fine just
yesterday
is suddenly worthless.

"If you were to call and talk to 10 people, you'd probably find that
two-thirds of those people have handsets sitting idle in their garages,"
said Eric Forster, vice president of marketing and sales for ReCellular
Inc.(http://www.recellular.net/home/home.asp), a Dexter, Mich., company
that
refurbishes or recycles old handsets collected by cell phone carriers.

The good news, Forster said, is that "people know they probably
shouldn't
throw it away" because it may harm the environment. "But they're not
sure,
so they keep it."

Of the phones received by ReCellular, which also buys old handsets,
about 75
or 80 percent are refurbished at an average cost of $20 per handset and
then
resold for about $45 or $50. A portion of those proceeds often go to
charities.

Those phones that can't be salvaged are sold for between 50 cents and
$1.25
per pound to recycling companies that extract toxic materials for either
reuse or safe disposal.

Most of the toxic substances in cell phones are contained in the circuit
board, the liquid crystal display of the screen, and the battery.

But while efforts to recover those substances are intensifying in the
United
States and Europe, recycling programs are far less developed in poorer
nations - where three-quarters of ReCellular's handsets are expected to
be
sold next year.

"Exporting waste is not the way to resolve waste problems," said Eric
Most,
director of the solid waste prevention program at Inform.
"We need to work with industry to change the design of phones to make
them
more reusable and recyclable and less toxic."

http://www.bizreport.com/article.php?art_id=5365

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