Study Calls on Changes in Cell Phone Recycling Programs

A new report by INFORM, Calling All Cell Phones: Collection, Reuse and Recycling Programs in the US, reveals that leading cell phone collection programs have recovered less than 1 percent of phones retired and discarded since 1999. About 2.5 million phones were collected from 1999 to early 2003 by the programs studied, leaving hundreds of millions more to enter the waste stream.

The research indicates an estimated 100 million cell phones will be retired this year.

Cell phone collection programs are the focus of this new report because INFORM found them to be the primary strategy in the United States for dealing with the rapidly escalating cell phone waste problem researched in its 2002 report, Waste in the Wireless World. At current rates of recovery, hundreds of millions of used cell phones will soon wind up in landfills or incinerators where they’ll release arsenic, lead, cadmium, and many other toxic materials that threaten human health and the environment,” said Eric Most, author of the new report.

“Existing US collection programs are making steps in the right direction, but they’re operating at a scale and scope that is dwarfed by the monumental size of the problem.”

Bette Fishbein, INFORM Senior Fellow, author of Waste In the Wireless World  and advisor to the new report, said: “With increased effectiveness, the collection programs could give more and also have more revenue to invest in growth and expansion.”

The report details recommendations for making collection programs effective. Recommendations address the program operators as well as cell phone manufacturers and policy makers.

Recommendations to Collection Program Operators: Programs need to offer convenient, permanent drop-off sites; high-traffic locations within communities, such as shopping malls, supermarkets, banks, and post offices could be drop-off sites.

Temporary drives must be replaced by permanent collection systems.

Programs need to be broadly and aggressively publicized.

Financial incentives are needed to enlist large-scale participation. Program participants with retail outlets should offer product discounts and rebates to customers bringing in phones.

Cell phone collection and reuse programs must take physical or fiscal responsibility for the cell phones they export.

Recommendations to Manufacturers:--

Design of standardized components would allow for interchangeability among different makes and models of phone.

Simplification of internal software would expedite refurbishing.

Reduction of the toxic constituents in cell phones would make them more recyclable. Cell phones manufactured with alternatives to brominated flame retardants and beryllium-copper would reduce contamination problems and improve worker safety.

Standardization and labeling of plastics and batteries would facilitate both refurbishment and recycling.

Recommendations to Government Policy Makers:

Policies or programs involving the principle of  “extended producer responsibility” would motivate manufacturers to make the simple design changes that facilitate recycling and reuse. Since toxic contaminants hinder recycling, EPR could give manufacturers a strong incentive to design their cell phones with fewer toxic components.

Landfill bans on cell phones would increase the number of phones flowing into collection programs. Legislation requiring municipalities to create systems for recovering, refurbishing, and recycling used phones would make such bans even more effective.

Mandated public reporting on the collection and end use of refurbished phones and recyclable materials would provide valuable information allowing government officials and the public to track the effectiveness of cell phone collection and reuse programs.

Targets for cell phone collection, reuse, and recycling would give the wireless industry an incentive to improve program efficiency.

For full text of the report, click on the following link – Calling Cellphones