Recently in recycling Category

As the wireless industry celebrates the upcoming 25^th anniversary of the first commercial cell phone call (October 13, 1983), this in-depth online study of more than 2,000 teenagers around the nation sheds new light on how today's teens feel about wireless products and services, how they are using them today and most importantly, how they would like to use them in the future. A growing wireless segment, teens view their cell phones as more than just an accessory.

Highlights of the study include:

• Teens consider cell phones an indication of status
• 4 out 5 teens use a cell phone.
• 80% say cell phones provide a sense of security.
• Many prefer texting over talking.
• They would also like their phones to be water and shock proof.
  

ReCellular, cell-phone recycling firm, announced today that Investor Growth Capital is investing $15 million in a Series A Preferred Stock financing. The investment adds a growing clean-tech company to IGC's portfolio, and will enable ReCellular to handsets.

ReCellular's revenues have increased an average of 25 percent for the past eight years. Today, the company is the leading collector, recycler and refurbisher of cell phones in the world.  In 2008, the company is on track to process more than 6 million phones - equal to the combined population of Wyoming, Vermont, North Dakota, Alaska, South Dakota, Delaware, Montana, and Rhode Island.

With an estimated 3.3 billion cell-phone users worldwide, and 130 million phones retired in the U.S. every year, there isan  opportunity for significant growth in the global cell-phone reuse and recycling market.

"We processed almost 5,000 phones in our first year of business," says Newman. "Today, we get an average of 24,000 phones - enough to fill seven mail trucks - every day, five days a week. With the support and resources of IGC, we see the potential to double the number of mail trucks delivering to ReCellular in the very near future."

Consumer Cellular has innovative cell phone recycling program that has already kept 10,000 cell phones out of landfills and raised more than $8,000 for Portland, Ore.-based Doernbecher Children’s Hospital Foundation.

As reported by CTIA, an estimated 150 million cell phones are retired in the U.S. every year but less than 10 percent of idled phones are recycled. The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) reports that 75 percent of Americans are unaware of cell-phone recycling options.

With every mobile phone sold, Consumer Cellular includes a postage-paid envelope so customers can recycle their old cell phone, regardless of if the phone still works. Consumer Cellular’s award-winning recycling partner, ReCellular, refurbishes and resells the usable cell phones, making wireless communication more accessible to more people. Phones that no longer function are recycled according to strict environmental standards and the salvaged materials are used to make other products.

 
Three out of every four people added that they don't even think about recycling their devices and nearly half were unaware that it is even possible to do so.

The survey was based on interviews with 6,500 people in 13 countries including Finland, Germany, Italy, Russia, Sweden, UK, United Arab Emirates, USA, Nigeria, India, China, Indonesia and Brazil.

People on average have each owned around five phones, very few of these are being recycled once they are no longer used.  Yet very few old devices, 4%, are being thrown into landfill. Instead the majority, 44%, are simply being kept at homes never used.  Others are giving their mobiles another life in different ways, one quarter are passing on their old phones to friends or family, and 16% of people are selling their used devices particularly in emerging markets.

BlackBerry’s and iPhones are the major contenders in the smartphone market and ChangeWave Research is trying to figure out why they are liked and disliked. ChangeWave  looked at the features users love and hate about their iPhones and BlackBerrys as part of their March 2008 survey of 864 smartphone owners.iPhone users loved the Web/iPod functionality of the phone while BlackBerry users loved their push email. iPhone users hated EDGE speeds and BlackBerry users disliked their Internet browsing.

The Apple iPhone

By far the most lauded feature of the iPhone among owners is its seamless integration of a Phone, iPod and Internet browser (36%). One respondent puts it, “The feature I use most is the iPod, but it’s the integrated whole that makes it so much fun to use. “

Another respondent adds, “I love the iPhone. It is revolutionary. I love being able to jump on the Internet, send email, get maps, weather forecasts, instant message, and make phone calls.”

The second most popular feature is the iPhone’s touch screen interface, followed by its ease of use.

This holiday season, many consumers rang in the holidays with new wireless phones,. Rather than throwing old phones into a drawer or into the trash, Verizon Wireless reminds consumers to donate their no-longer-used wireless phones to the company’s HopeLinephone recycling program to support victims of domestic violence.

HopeLine collects no-longer-used wireless phones, batteries and accessories in any condition, from any wireless service provider, at the company’s Communications Stores across the country. Phones that can be refurbished are sold for reuse and those without value are disposed of in an environmentally sound way. Proceeds from the HopeLine program are used to provide wireless phones and cash grants to local shelters and other non-profit organizations that focus on domestic violence prevention and awareness.