Former Execs from RadioShack, Sprint Start Phone Recycling Firm

During the recently held meeting of the Wireless Association, a newly formed company, eRecyclingCorps, has announced an ambitious target to handle a large number of the mobile cell phones disposed of each year.

The company estimates that there are roughly 4 billion wireless subscribers in the world.

Representatives from eRecyclingCorps, based in Dallas, says that only 1 percent of these products are recycled each year. The company’s goal is to work with carriers on the various buyback programs.

eRecyclingCorps will work with carriers to establish buy-back programs that are customized and scalable. To accomplish this, the company is installing a web-based platform that integrates directly into the point-of-sale system at the carrier’s retail stores.

Sprint is the first carrier to use eRecyclingCorps. The company has deployed the system in 1,100 company-owned Sprint stores and 1,400 Sprint Preferred Dealers, as well as through its online channels. Sprint has announced an ambitious goal to achieve a wireless reuse and recycling rate of 90 percent as compared to device sales by 2017.

Founders of eRecyclingCorps include CEO David Edmondson, who previously was CEO of RadioShack; and co-founder Ron LeMay, who holds the title of chairman, formerly president and COO of Sprint.

"The unprecedented growth in the global wireless industry has transformed the way people live, work and play. The unintended consequence of that growth is a mountain of toxic environmental e-waste," says Edmondson. "We are committed to transforming the wireless eco-system through comprehensive incentives, which address both our collective responsibility to the environment and provide an economically viable solution to the growing problem of e-waste."