Cellphone Recycling: What Retailers Need to Know
By Allan Pulga
The relatively new phenomenon of cellphone collection, reuse and recycling has made headlines of late, particularly in the form of philanthropic efforts by citizens and companies gathering used phones to raise funds for charity.
Recently, two teenage siblings from Massachusetts were featured in The New York Times for raising a whopping $1 million for phone cards for American troops overseas – all from donated cellphones. In Canada, Rogers Communications has partnered with the Canadian Association of Food Banks to use money raised from used phone donations to feed the hungry. Since 2004, the program has raised nearly $300,000 CDN.
Charitable causes like these trade discarded handsets in for cash, via phone recycling companies who refurbish the phones to be resold or donated for local use, or for use in developing countries. And the used phone collection industry is booming, according to Sohrob Farudi, CEO of Flipswap, a California-based phone collection business.
“The demand for used phones is enormous,” said Farudi. “The challenge for companies like ours is awareness. Consumers are finally starting to realize that their old cell phones have value, and they are seeking out programs like ours as alternatives to the trash can.”
Environmental activists have long been trying to keep commonly discarded electronic goods known as “e-waste” from ending up in landfills. Last July, they celebrated a significant victory: California approved a groundbreaking state law to encourage consumers to dispose of their old cellphones at any store that sells the devices, at no charge. The stores can then either donate the used phones to charity or sell them for profit in the secondary market – typically done through companies like Flipswap.
According to the California Department of Toxic Substances Control, the average U.S. consumer replaces his/her cellphone every 18 months. As a result, Americans retire an estimated 130 million cellphones every year, only a fraction of which are reused or recycled. State legislators are concerned about the accumulation of hazardous chemicals contained in the circuit boards and batteries of used phones. Maine, Maryland, Minnesota and Washington have also passed consumer-electronic recycling laws, while about 20 others – including Pennsylvania – are considering similar moves. Even Internet auction giant eBay is involved in e-waste recycling initiatives.
iQmetrix has partnered with Flipswap to help cellular retailers meet phone recycling requirements. RetailiQ features Flipswap handset trade-in technology, which allows retailers to quickly and accurately determine a guaranteed trade-in value for a customer’s used phone. Retailers may then issue instant store credit for the used phone, which customers can apply toward a new phone or accessory purchase. In the end, the customer gets a deal and the retailer closes a sale. It’s a win-win situation.