ReCellular Collects 6 Million Used Cell Phones in 2007, the Most Ever by a Recycling Company
Dexter, MI (PRWEB) January 6, 2008
Las Vegas, NV PRWEB) January 7, 2008 — ReCellular processed a record 6 million used cell phones in 2007, solidifying the company’s position as the world’s foremost collector, refurbisher, and recycler of wireless phones.
“In 1991, we started with a simple mission – to create a successful business that is both socially and environmentally responsible,” says Chuck Newman, founder and CEO of ReCellular, Inc. “Today, ReCellular’s impact and success have far exceeded my expectations.”
In 2007, ReCellular:
Employed 240 people at facilities in Michigan, Texas, Hong Kong, and Brazil
Collected 6 million used cell phones for recycling or refurbishing
Raised more than $ 20 million for charitable causes for 50 non-profit partners
Diverted more than 1 million pounds of materials from landfills by recycling efforts
“Over the past five years, we have grown exponentially,” says Newman. “Our ongoing efforts to increase consumer awareness for cell phone recycling – married with the innovative collection programs we offer our corporate, charitable and grassroots partners – have helped us dramatically increase our operations.”
Cell phone collections:
For 2007, ReCellular acquired a record 6,034,771 used cell phones through corporate, charitable and grassroots collections programs. This amount of phones is the equivalent of:
10 million kilograms of carbon emissions
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, producing six million cell phones would consume enough energy to power 11,400 homes for a year, and produce more than 10.3 million kilograms of carbon emissions.
A year’s supply of gasoline for 6,000 vehicles
According to The Use Less Stuff Report, each cell phone produced consumes materials and energy equivalent to .75 gallons of gasoline. Six million phones represents saving the equivalent of 4.5 million gallons of gasoline in materials and energy usage. That’s enough to fuel 6,000 vehicles for one year, each averaging 20 miles per gallon for 15,000 miles.
$ 3.8 million worth of precious metals
According to the U.S. Geological Survey, each wireless phone circuit board contains $ 0.63 – not factoring the cost of recovery – of gold, platinum, silver, palladium and copper. Cell phone circuit boards yield more gold per ton (300 grams of gold per ton of circuit boards) than ore from gold mine operations (five grams of gold per ton of ore).
Charitable Fundraising:
The vast majority of phones ReCellular processes are collected with support from retailers, charity groups and grassroots organizations. These partners create a nationwide network of more than 50,000 sites that collect cell phones of every make, model and age – enabling consumers to recycle their old phones safely and conveniently.
ReCellular pays these organizations for each phone collected, with the proceeds benefiting more than 50 non-profit partners nationwide.
In 2007, ReCellular provided more than $ 20 million for charities, including:
Verizon Wireless’ HopeLine® Phone Recycling
Through the funds raised from the sale of the refurbished phones, Verizon Wireless will purchase wireless phones and donate airtime to victims of domestic violence through human services and law enforcement agencies.
Motorola Race to Recycle School Fundraiser
Motorola’s Race to Recycle provides school groups up to $ 21,000 per calendar year, by providing a flat fee of $ 3.00 for every intact phone donated.
Cell Phones for Soldiers
Through generous donation and recycling used cell phones, Cell Phones for Soldiers has provided more than 12 million minutes of prepaid calling cards to soldiers in Iraq, Kuwait, Afghanistan and elsewhere.
March of Dimes
The March of Dimes program generates funds needed to support research into the causes of premature birth, education to help women have healthy babies, and assistance for healthcare providers in identifying women at risk for premature birth.
Environmental Efforts:
More than half of the 6 million phones ReCellular collected in 2007 were reconditioned and sold for reuse – considered to be the ultimate form of recycling. The remaining phones were either obsolete or non-functional. These phones were dismantled and sent to cell phone recycling partners for reclamation.
In 2007, ReCellular recycled 1,011,001 pounds of materials, including:
Plastic phone housings, containing mixed plastics 32,110
Complete handsets and circuit boards, containing precious metals such as gold, silver, platinum and palladium 157,415
Batteries, containing heavy metals such as nickel, iron, cadmium and lead 203,819
Chargers, containing copper wiring 375,090
Total pounds of phone components recycled: 768,434
In addition, ReCellular implemented a zero-waste policy to help limit ReCellular’s environmental footprint. All donated materials are recycled, including cardboard, paper and plastic shipping materials. These recycling efforts diverted an additional 242,667 pounds of materials from landfills.
Finally, in 2007, ReCellular increased the company’s green power renewable energy commitment to purchase 100 percent Green-e certified renewable energy credits representing 708 megawatt-hours of total energy consumption by ReCellular.
ReCellular’s environmental initiatives are verified by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 14001 certification, a voluntary standard that facilitates improved environmental business management. The certification monitors not only ReCellular’s practices, but the practices of ReCellular’s recycling partners. These partners must submit to on-site audits by ReCellular to ensure environmentally sound processing, must commit to not send any scrap materials to landfills, and must commit to not deliver any scrap materials to developing countries for processing.
Environmental Partnerships
ReCellular has taken a leadership role in developing processes and procedures for recycling wireless materials. As such, ReCellular is represented in many organizations, including:
Michigan:
Michigan Recycling Coalition
Michigan Business Pollution Prevention Program
Washtenaw County Pollution Prevention
Washtenaw County Waste Knot Partner
Washtenaw Community Partner for Clean Streams
Nationally:
Consumer Electronics Association (CEA)
National Recycling Coalition
CTIA Wireless Association
Internationally:
Asociación Hispanoamericana de Centros de Investigación y Empresas de Telecomunicaciones (AHCIET)
Mobile Phone Partnership Initiative (MPPI)
International Association of Electronic Recyclers (IAER)
About Cell Phone Recycling Company ReCellular Inc.:
With offices in the United States, Hong Kong, and Brazil, ReCellular Inc. is the world’s foremost collector, reseller and recycler of used wireless phones and accessories. We provide solutions for the collection, reuse and recycling of used personal electronics that generate financial return for our partners, quality products for our customers, funding for charity organizations, and protection of the environment. Corporate, charitable, consumer and wholesale information is available at ReCellular.com.
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