ReCellular Collected 4 Million Retired Cell Phones, and Diverted 1 Million Pounds from Landfills in 2007
DEXTER, Mich., Jan 2, 2008 – Today, ReCellular announced that the company processed more than 4 million phones, solidifying the company’s position as the world’s leading electronics sustainability firm. In addition, the ReCellular’s efforts diverted more than 1 million pounds of materials from landfills through the company’s recycling efforts, and raised more than $8 million for charitable causes.
“In 1991, we started with a simple mission – to create a successful business that is both socially and environmentally responsible,” says Chuck Newman, founder and CEO of ReCellular, Inc. “Today, ReCellular’s impact and success have far exceeded my expectations.”
Cell phone collections:
For 2007, ReCellular acquired more than 4 million phones through corporate, charitable and grassroots collections programs. This amount of phones is the equivalent of:
6.8 million kilograms of carbon emissions: According to the Environmental Protection Agency, producing 4 million cell phones would consume enough energy to power 7,600 homes for a year, and produce more than 6.8 million kilograms of carbon emissions.
A year’s supply of gasoline for 4,000 vehicles: According to The Use Less Stuff Report, each cell phone produced consumes materials and energy equivalent to .75 gallons of gasoline. Four million phones represents saving the equivalent of 3 million gallons of gasoline in materials and energy usage. That’s enough to fuel 4,000 vehicles for one year, each averaging 20 miles per gallon for 15,000 miles.
$2.5 million worth of precious metals: According to the U.S. Geological Survey, each wireless phone circuit board contains $0.63 – not factoring the cost of recovery – of gold, platinum, silver, palladium and copper. Cell phone circuit boards yield more gold per ton (300 grams of gold per ton of circuit boards) than ore from gold mine operations (five grams of gold per ton of ore).
Charitable Fundraising:
The vast majority of phones ReCellular processes are collected with support from retailers, charity groups and grassroots organizations. These partners create a nationwide network of more than 40,000 sites that collect cell phones of every make, model and age – enabling consumers to recycle their old phones safely and conveniently.
ReCellular pays these organizations for each phone collected, with the proceeds benefiting more than 100 non-profit partners nationwide.
In 2007, ReCellular provided more than $8 million for charities, including:
Verizon Wireless' HopeLine® Phone Recycling: Through the funds raised from the sale of the refurbished phones, Verizon Wireless will purchase wireless phones and donate airtime to victims of domestic violence through human services and law enforcement agencies.
Motorola Race to Recycle School Fundraiser: Motorola’s Race to Recycle provides school groups up to $21,000 per calendar year, by providing a flat fee of $3.00 for every intact phone donated.
Cell Phones for Soldiers: Through generous donation and recycling used cell phones, Cell Phones for Soldiers has provided more than 12 million minutes of prepaid calling cards to soldiers in Iraq, Kuwait, Afghanistan and elsewhere.
Environmental Efforts:
More than half of the 4 million phones ReCellular collected in 2007 were reconditioned and sold for reuse – considered to be the ultimate form of recycling.
The remaining phones were either obsolete or non-functional. These phones were dismantled and sent to recycling partners for reclamation.
In 2007, ReCellular recycled 1,011,001 pounds of materials, including:
Plastic phone housings, containing mixed plastics
32,110
Complete handsets and circuit boards, containing precious metals such as gold, silver, platinum and palladium
157,415
Batteries, containing heavy metals such as nickel, iron, cadmium and lead
203,819
Chargers, containing copper wiring
375,090
Total pounds of phone components recycled
768,434
In addition, ReCellular implemented a zero-waste policy to help limit ReCellular’s environmental footprint. All donated materials are recycled, including cardboard, paper and plastic shipping materials. These recycling efforts diverted an additional 242,667 pounds of materials from landfills.
Finally, in 2007, ReCellular increased the company’s green power renewable energy commitment. ReCellular purchased Green-e certified renewable-energy credits to offset 100 percent of the company’s total annual energy consumption.
ReCellular’s environmental initiatives are verified by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 14001:2004 certification, a voluntary standard that facilitates improved environmental business management. The certification monitors not only ReCellular’s practices, but the practices of ReCellular’s recycling partners. These partners must submit to on-site audits by ReCellular to ensure environmentally sound processing, must commit to not send any scrap materials to landfills, and must commit to not deliver any scrap materials to developing countries for processing.
Environmental Partnerships
ReCellular has taken a leadership role in developing processes and procedures for recycling wireless materials. As such, ReCellular is represented in many organizations, including:
Michigan
Michigan Recycling Coalition
Michigan Business Pollution Prevention Program
Washtenaw County Pollution Prevention
Washtenaw County Waste Knot Partner
Washtenaw Community Partner for Clean Streams
National
Consumer Electronics Association (CEA)
National Recycling Coalition
CTIA Wireless Association
Rural Cellular Association
International
Asociación Hispanoamericana de Centros de Investigación y Empresas de Telecomunicaciones (AHCIET)
Mobile Phone Partnership Initiative (MPPI)
International Association of Electronic Recyclers (IAER)
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About ReCellular Inc.: With offices in the United States, Hong Kong, and Brazil, ReCellular Inc. is the world’s leading electronics sustainability firm. We provide solutions for the collection, reuse and recycling of used personal electronics that generate financial return for our partners, quality products for our customers, funding for charity organizations, and protection of the environment. Corporate, charitable, consumer and wholesale information is available at www.ReCellular.com.
In 2007, ReCellular
Employed 470 people at facilities in Michigan, Texas, Hong Kong, and Brazil
Collected 4 million wireless phones for recycling or refurbishing
Raised more than $8 million for charitable causes for 100 non-profit partners
Diverted more than 1 million pounds of materials from landfills through recycling efforts
ReCellular Trade In
ReCellular receives an average of 11,000 phones for recycling or refurbishing every day of the year
ReCellular offers more than 40,000 collection sites across the country, including wireless retailers, businesses and grassroots organizations
ReCellular’s Cell Phone Data Eraser™, offers instructions to erase personal cell phone data for more than 600 cell phone models
Recycling
ReCellular recycled 768,434 pounds of phone components, and another 242,667 pounds of cardboard, paper and plastic materials in 2007
Cell phone circuit boards yield more gold per ton (300 grams of gold per ton of circuit boards) than ore from gold mine operations (five grams of gold per ton of ore)
According to the U.S. Geological Survey, each wireless phone circuit board contains $0.63 – not factoring the cost of recovery – of gold, platinum, silver, palladium and copper
Business Enterprise
ReCellular offers businesses a 73 point data deletion process that securely scrubs all data from wireless handsets
Smart phones received by ReCellular contain an average of 3,000 pages of personal and corporate information, including contacts, calendar entries, and email files
ReCellular offers businesses a documented audit trail for each phone received, and is certified to ISO 14001: 2004 standards
Prices vary by model and condition, but phones can range from $30 for a Blackberry 7290 up to $150 for a Blackberry 8800
Charity fundraising
ReCellular has more than 100 charities actively collecting phones at any given time
ReCellular pays an average of $5 per phone donated to charity programs
ReCellular has been conducting donate-a-phone programs since 1996, and has since raised $16.2 million for non-profit organizations
Industry Facts
The average consumer replaces their cell phone every 16-18 months (J.D. Power and Associates), even though most phones are still functional
An estimated 150 million cell phones are retired in the U.S. every year (CTIA)
It is estimated that less than 10 percent of idled phones are recycled (CTIA)
Three-quarters of Americans are unaware of cell-phone recycling options (CEA)
40 percent of phones retired are stored indefinitely (iSuppli)
