Sprint’s Samsung Reclaim M560 phone is the greener call

Sometimes small changes make a big difference.

If everyone recycled their cell phones, for instance, enough energy would be saved to power 18,500 homes for a year, according to the EPA.

Sprint is beginning to take this message seriously with the unveiling of its new Reclaim M560, made by Samsung.

The phone, which is available starting Aug. 16, foregoes fancy packaging for recycled parts, power saving and soybean ink.

“The Samsung Reclaim doesn’t have a bulky user manual,” Samsung spokesman Omar Khan said. “It doesn’t have harmful chemicals like poly-vinyl chloride and with its lighter packaging it doesn’t have a large shipping footprint.”

The packaging is smaller than an average cell phone, and instead of printing out a manual for each one, a pamphlet directs buyers to an online manual.

The charger uses 12 percent less energy than an average one, and includes an alarm so you know when it’s done charging.

As for the phone itself, it’s made from corn-based bioplastic. Sprint claims the Reclaim is 80 percent recyclable.

The Reclaim isn’t one of those bare-bones models that is only green because of its lack of features, either. It has a two megapixel camera, a high-speed 3G network connection, one-touch access to social networks and a full keyboard.

And as you might expect, it comes in green.

Although it’s great to see a phone company come out with a greener product, to be truly kind to the environment they’re going to have to make sure their phones don’t end up in a landfill. According to the EPA, only 10 percent of unwanted cell phones are recycled.

The EPA needs to strengthen ties with cell phone providers to recycle more phones.

The “Plug-In To eCycling” program has all the major cell phone companies aiming at increasing the recycling rate, but it doesn’t seem to be reaching consumers very fast. Before that will happen, drop-off recycling will have to go mainstream.