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Read the rest of this articleeRecyclingCorps makes mobile phone e-waste a new business model
It’s always encouraging to see new companies emerge with models to address new problems, and e-waste is a growing problem for much of the world. Two executives with experience working for Sprint and RadioShack just launched a company that will incent consumers to recycle phones by providing credits on future purchases.
As one might expect given the leaders involved, Sprint is the first carrier to have implemented eRecyclingCorps’ system with its previously announced buyback program. That implementation spans 1,100 company stores and 1,400 preferred dealers, which is a nice footprint to begin.
Interestingly, a majority of mobile phones are purchased in the stores rather than online. According to the company’s press release its web-based platform “. . . integrates directly into the point of sale system at carrier retail stores, where 60 percent of all US phones are sold.” That makes sense in many ways because consumers likely want to see the phone in person and size it up for themselves before purchasing.
eRecyclingCorps may also resell old phones instead of immediately recycling them which could make some people uneasy, especially as the trend toward storing more personal data on phones continues. To address that, and other concerns, the company has committed to:
- due diligence on downstream recyclers and processors
- clearing/destroying personal data
- sending materials only to facilities licensed to receive them
- only exporting to countries where it is legal
Downstream waste in the mobile phone industry is only one part of the problem because the materials used to build phones in the first place must be repurposable or durable enough to last multiple users. That progress is in the hands of companies like Apple, RIM and HTC right now.
With only 1% of mobile phones being recycled worldwide today, eRecyclingCorps certainly has a healthy market to build out. Let’s hope it can earn good money while making a positive impact on the environment. That’s the sort of business model that will push through the green movement’s hype and couple sustainable economics with a healthy environment.
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E-waste is becoming a mounting problem all over the world. This is a very good idea of eRecyclingCorps to recycle all the old phones hope it will make a positive impact on the environment.
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Tons of old phones gets discarded and some still with batteries intact! Imagine what those batteries are going to build up? Either it's lead or some other metals we can visualize a volcanic eruption out of e-wastes. E-waste or hardware scraps may well be discarded or sold off to other countries at low cost but still, the same waste is getting circulated in this world so disposing our e-wastes to some other country is not the right solution. If these companies really want to do something about the e-wastes it should introduce some kind of buy back policies like the one introduced by Sprint.
A smart battery charger is built to make charging precise and for the reason that of this, it is unlikely to suffer from overcharging, and trickle charges could be successfully maintained.
Recycling phones is a very smart thing to do. I've read an article some time ago about some people recycling them in Norway or Finland, I can't remember exactly, and I thought it was a great idea! I still have my old mobile phones and I would want to recycle them but I don't know where to take them. Anyway, I don't plan to throw them away. I would have to call rubbish removal Worcester if I wanted to do that. I'm kidding, but still, I think I have 10 or so.