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AT&T Estimates Recycling 14 Million Wireless Devices by 2011
Green Technology Featured Articles
July 27, 2009

AT&T Estimates Recycling 14 Million Wireless Devices by 2011

By Rajani Baburajan
TMCnet Contributor

AT&T’s cell phone recycling drive is in full swing with new initiatives in all 2,000-plus company stores, community locations, online, and through continued advocacy programs with wireless users nationwide.

 
The company estimates it will collect roughly 14 million wireless devices for recycling by the end of 2011, translating into the environmental equivalent of keeping more than 920 tons of primary materials and more than 13 tons of toxic waste out of landfills.
 
AT&T (News - Alert) collected 4.5 million wireless devices and 1.3 million pounds of accessories and batteries in 2008. AT&T also recycles wireless phones that are returned through other channels, sending phones at the end of their lifecycles to recycling plants.
 
 The firm is offering drop-off spots via all 2,000-plus retail locations nationwide, and it offers free prepaid shipping labels online at www.att.com/recycle. The company continues to offer free donation drive toolkits online, which include templates for recycling bins and tips for wiping data from old phones before recycling.
 
Further, to share its recycling mission with more than 2 million children, tweens, and teens across the U.S., it is working with the American Camp Association (ACA) through August 2009.
 
AT&T also announced that it is promoting wireless recycling efforts at AT&T-sponsored music and movie festivals through 2010. The company has formed a volunteer organization, the AT&T Pioneers, to lead community-based recycling drives across the U.S.  It also replaced its old cell phone collection bins with new ones that offer visitors a drop-off spot and free mailing envelopes they can use to recycle phones and accessories after they leave the store.
 
“We encourage wireless users to do what they can to reuse or recycle old cell phones because they're made of valuable materials like precious metals, copper, and plastics - all of which require energy to extract and manufacture,” said Matt Hale, director of the office of resource conservation and recovery at the Environmental Protection Agency, in a statement. “When you recycle cell phones, you are helping to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, keep valuable material out of landfills and incinerators, and conserve natural resources.”
 
AT&T's recycling efforts continue to support Cell Phones for Soldiers, a not-for-profit organization that recycles used wireless phones to buy phone cards for military families. The company aims to provide CPFS with roughly $1 million in recycling proceeds by 2010.
“At AT&T, we're working to help make recycling easy for wireless users,” said Jeff Bradley, senior vice president, devices, AT&T, in a statement. “No matter what make or model of phone - or which wireless carrier you use - we encourage you to recycle with us because it makes a positive impact on the world where we all live and work. Working together, we hope to help reuse and recycle millions more cell phones.”

Rajani Baburajan is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To read more of Rajani's articles, please visit her columnist page.

Edited by Amy Tierney


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