Why Your Old Cell Phone Could Cost You Cash

If you open up the top drawer of your desk, will you find last year’s cell phone collecting dust? Did your most recent upgrade put your old phone out of commission and into a forgotten shoebox in the garage?

You’re not alone. In a recent study by Sprint nearly 90 percent of those surveyed stated having one or more unused mobile phones sitting at home. Additionally, a recent study by the U.S. EPA showed that in 2007, only 10 percent of the cell phones that were ready for end-of-life management were recycled.

“Consumers hold onto phones because they feel there should still be value attached to it,” said Darren Beck, community relations manager for Sprint. “The best thing to do is [recycle] it today and not let it sit in a drawer.”

Sprint’s recycling programs have kept more than 15 million wireless phones out of landfills and have generated more than $6 million in charitable contributions since 2001.

As of this year, Sprint was recycling at a 34 percent rate of its annual sales, up from 22.4 percent last year. The company is committed to increasing this rate to 90 percent by 2017.

As the holidays approach and the economic outlook for most people continues to look not-so-merry, cell phones are still a hot ticket item for gifts. As consumers look to purchase new phones, being aware of reuse and recycling options is a must.

Return of the Dinosaurs

You can recycle any wireless phones, accessories, batteries, and data cards for free through Sprint’s Project Connect, regardless of carrier, condition or age. Free postage-paid envelopes are available at any Sprint-owned retail store nationwide, in the box with more than 90 percent of the new wireless devices that the carrier sells or online at the Sprint website. The net proceeds from the equipment collected help keep kids safer online.

“We get some relics and dinosaurs,” said Alex Hahn, public relations manager for Sprint. “We even get the first cell phones that ever came out, that are backpack-sized. Some are 8 inches tall by 4 inches wide.”

If you do have a newer phone, all the better. According to Beck, the longer you wait to recycle your cell phone, the less value it will have in a potential trade-in situation. For example, the Sprint Buyback program offers an account credit of $10-50 for select Sprint and Nextel-branded handsets for active customers. The program offers free shipping.

Phones in this program, and other cell phone recycling programs, derive their value based on their demand. Newer phones tend to drive a higher buy-back credit, making it advantageous for consumers to reuse and recycle sooner than later. Even if you are not eligible for the Sprint Buyback program, the essentials are the same: your old phone is like a used car. The newer it is, the more value it has – charitably or otherwise.

When phones are collected, reuse is Sprint’s first priority. More than 90 percent of the 3.2 million of the handsets collected in 2007 by the company were reused. “We’re looking to reuse because it’s the most environmentally friendly thing you can do with the phone,” said Beck. “We can put that phone back in the hands of someone else who can find value in it.”

Scrap-cycling

According to Hahn, “the large majority of the phones we reuse go back into a Sprint owned and operated facility in Texas, where we make sure they are workable and reliable, and are put back in the hand of customers as replacement phones.”

But while reuse is the fate for most recycled cell phones, some are in a condition that puts them beyond working order, in which case it is dismantled for parts and base materials. Through Sprint’s Zer0 E-Waste policy, none of the wireless equipment collected enters the general waste stream (ie: landfills or waste incinerators). In addition, Sprint does not ship any electronic scrap to underdeveloped countries, and all of Sprint’s recycling vendors are contractually obligated to follow the same policies and are audited to ensure compliance.

The materials collected from recycling become a number of new products. For example, waste from metals reclamation is used in asphalt production and exhausted cell phone batteries are used to manufacture aftermarket car batteries. “Your phone could actually become a new roadbed,” said Hahn.