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Intro 

Today is Earth Day. Phone Scoop decided to take a few moments to look at what the mobile community is doing and what it can do to promote less waste and greener consumption of mobile products. First we're going to offer some basic advice on what you can do in your own life, and then we'll peek at what the mobile network operators and mobile handset manufacturers are doing to reduce, reuse, recycle.

All About You 

This is a collection of small and simple tips that can produce big results if everyone takes advantage of them.

Paperless Billing

This was the top recommendation from nearly every company we spoke to. Rather than have your mobile network operator mail you a copy of your bill each month, elect to have it sent to you electronically via email. This cuts down on paper waste, mailing costs, gasoline consumption and more. Most carriers permit you to log into your account via the internet and set up paperless billing. Along with paperless billing, don't forget to pay your bill electronically as well. Rather than mail in a check each month, use your bank, or your carrier's services, to have your wireless bill paid automatically. The saves mailing costs on your end, and even more paper waste. Many banks offer free online bill paying. Take advantage!

Strip It Down

Cell phone chargers continue to draw energy when plugged into the wall even if not connected to a phone. When your phone is done charging, be sure to unplug your charger. This will cut down on your electric bill and conserve electricity. If you want to take it one step further, use a power strip. Plug all your devices that need to be charged into a power strip and charge them all at once. When your devices are done charging, simply turn off the power strip. This is a convenient way to save time and energy.

Nav It

Going somewhere new? Rather than winging it, try using your carriers' navigation service to get you from point A to point B without any unnecessary detours. This may be some self-serving advice from network operators--after all, you often have to pay them for navigation services--but it makes sense. Using mapping and GPS services can prevent you from getting lost...and wasting gas. We all know how expensive gas is these days. As the summer comes around and gas prices go up, spending 15 extra minutes driving around because you missed a turn to East Timbuktu is going to start adding up.

Recycle

Americans discard on average 40,000 cell phones every day — or 150 million phones a year. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, producing 150 million cell phones would consume enough energy to power 285,000 homes for a year, and produce more than 258 million kilograms of carbon emissions. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, 150 million phones contains $94 million of precious metals — not factoring the cost of recovery — including gold, platinum, silver, palladium and copper.

If that's not enough to convince you, ReCellular offers these five reasons to recycle.

1. Your old phone probably still works. More than half of the phones ReCellular receives are still functional, and can be refurbished and reused--often in developing countries.
2. They contain valuable materials. Recycling phone circuit boards yields more gold per ton than the average ton of ore from gold mine operations, as well as other precious metals.
3. They can be environmentally damaging. Like all rechargeable batteries, cell phones contain heavy metals and chemicals that can be toxic in landfills, and should always be recycled.
4. They are of value. ReCellular offers businesses up to $150 per phone, and their charitable donate-a-phone programs raised more than $8 million per year for non-profit organizations.
5. They're serving no purpose in the drawer. Really, what are you keeping those phones for? Send them in.

Recycling old phones is a great way to conserve, but be careful where you recycle. There are lots of programs and companies that offer to recycle your phone, including wireless network operators, but the proceeds and phones don't always go to the right people.

RIPmobile.com, for example, will pay your for your recycled mobile, accept the chargers and accessories, and donates more money to charities that some of the other recycling programs. Be sure to research and check ahead of time if the phones you want to send in will be accepted and not just tossed into the trash. Some other companies worth mentioning are Collective Good and ReCellular. Choose the company and program that you are most comfortable with.

Collective Good allows you to pick which charity the proceeds from your recycled phone go to. Some of the charities include the American Re Cross, the Humane Society,and Planned Parenthood. If you have strong convictions about issues X, Y or Z, perhaps Collective Good is the avenue for you.

ReCellular is the major recycling partner of some of the wireless network operators, including Verizon Wireless and AT&T. You can also choose to recycle directly with ReCellular. Its web site tells you how, and you can even use it to buy refurbished phones on the cheap.

Merciful heavens, whatever you do, don't throw your old phones out!

Be Choosey

If you want to keep your impact on the environment to a minimum, another way to do that is to pick businesses that are serious about being green. In other words, choose to spend your money on products from companies that have programs that you respect, or that mean something to you, or at least are doing as little to effect their environment as possible. Choosing with your feet (and dollars!) is the best way to send the message that you care. Every company has its own level of commitment to the environment. Do the research, find out which ones coincide with your own beliefs, and choose accordingly.

For a better idea of how companies stack on on the scale of greenness, check out this lovely ranking system from Greenpeace.

Carriers

Intro 

Now that we've looked at what you can do, let's see what the carriers are up to. All of them advocate recycling, so we've outlined what the carriers are doing to foster more widespread recycling of old cell phones. But the carriers are also looking to reduce their own impact on the environment by tackling programs that reduce energy consumption, reduce waste, and conserve.

AT&T 

AT&T takes corporate social responsibility pretty seriously. This year, it is really pushing the recycling angle with a new promotion called Cell Phones for Soldiers. The program's goal is to double the number of phone the company recycles by Earth Day in 2009. Cell Phones for Soldiers, which is run in tandem with ReCellular, collects and recycles mobile phones and uses the proceeds to buy phone cards for U.S. military members and their families.

The program has collected 900,000 phones since it began last year, and set 1.8 million handsets as its goal for next year. If you have an old AT&T phone (or any phone for that matter), you can take it to more than 2,000 AT&T stores in more than 1,100 cities across the U.S.

AT&T is also getting out there on the streets. It is initiating a new program called AT&T Pioneers. This is the biggest step forward that Cell Phones for Soldiers has seen in a while. Beginning today, a network of more than 300,000 volunteers will begin helping expand the charity's cell phone donation drives into towns across the country. Roughly 100 new donation locations will be established, and volunteers will work to collect phones in corporate offices and other locations through July 4 to support the environment.

AT&T is doing more than recycling.

AT&T is attempting to reduce its gasoline and diesel fuel consumption. AT&T also recycles used oil and antifreeze from its fleet of service vehicles and backup power generators. This reduces energy usage and the generation of air emissions related to petroleum production and refining. AT&T claims its energy programs have improved the energy efficiency of some of its data centers by nearly 25 percent. AT&T also funds research into "industrial ecology", a new field that studies economic activity and its interrelationship with the environment such that both economic and environmental efficiency can be enhanced.

Sprint 

Sprint takes three separate green ideas into account with its business: climate change, energy, and green buildings. It also has a recycling program of its own.

Sprint knows that it can help reduce harmful greenhouse gas emissions and has made that one of its three main "green" goals. The majority of Sprint's emissions come from its energy use, both in its network and in its facilities. Sprint has been actively working to reduce its energy impact for the past several years. Sprint hopes to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by increasing its use of alternative energy sources such as wind, solar, and hydrogen fuel cells. Sprint is also investing in these non-fossil fuel-based sources to help further the development and speed their time to market. Sprint hopes to use these alternate greener fuels to power its network and buildings.

It also believes that building buildings that minimize environmental impact is important. As such, is Overland, Kan., facility was built with the environment in mind. Some of the features included in the building are: capturing site run-off water to use for landscape irrigation; Restoring wetlands and natural landscape; Plantings of more than 6,000 trees; use of landscaping for shade; Dedication of 60 percent of the campus to green space; reducing transportation emissions; and Provision of bicycles near campus buildings for employee use on campus.

Of course, we can't leave out recycling. Sprint has two separate recycling programs. The Sprint Project Connect lets users bring in their old wireless phones, batteries, accessories and connection cards, regardless of make, model, or service provider to be recycled. All of the net proceeds go to benefit Internet safety for kids. Sprint's other program is called Sprint Buyback. With the Buyback program, Sprint customers may return their used Sprint or Nextel wireless phones to its buy back program. If your old phone is eligible for the program, you may get a credit towards the purchase of a new phone. Not bad!

T-Mobile 

T-Mobile really wants you to go to a paperless billing program. Many people are looking for small changes they can make that can have a big impact on the environment. T-Mobile is doing the same by encouraging customers to save trees and planting one at the same time.

Partnering with The Arbor Day Foundation, T-Mobile has committed to planting a minimum of 150,000 trees on behalf of customers who switch to paperless billing between now and Friday, April 25th! If by chance more than 150,000 customers enter, T-Mobile has said it will match the number of customers who commit or have committed to paperless billing.

If you are a T-Mobile customer, go to my.t-mobile.com/plantatree between now and Arbor Day and register for paperless billing. Then, T-Mobile will plant a tree on the your behalf in damaged regions like Southern California (fires) and New Orleans (hurricane), where trees aren't naturally growing on their own, or are having difficulty recovering from natural disasters. If you are already signed up for paperless billing, T-Mobile will still plant a tree for you. Just go to my.t-mobile.com/plantatree and hit the confirm button.

Verizon Wireless 

Verizon really wants you to recycle your old phones. Its HopeLine program uses ReCellular to recycle phones. In 2007, HopeLine recycled 1.1 million old wireless phones. The number is an increase of more than 15 percent from last year's total of 910,000 phones. This means the word is slowly getting out there that you can and should recycle your old phones.

The phones Verizon Wireless gets for HopeLine are sent to ReCellular, where they are examined. Handsets that are too damaged or old to be refurbished for reuse are recycled responsibly, and those that can be reused, are refurbished for resale. Verizon Wireless takes the proceeds from the resale of those phones and donates it to domestic violence agencies across the country ($1.72 million in 2007). The ratio of recycled/refurbished phones tends to be around 25 percent/75 percent.

Last year, Verizon Wireless also provided nearly 20,000 wireless phones directly to domestic violence agencies around the country for use by their clients. These HopeLine phones are used by victims and survivors of domestic violence to rebuild their lives.

Wireless phones, batteries and accessories in any condition from any wireless service provider are collected in Verizon Wireless Communications Stores nationwide.

HopeLine is not all that Verizon Wireless does, however, to be a good corporate citizen. Verizon is also working hard to reduce its energy consumption.

Over the past year, Verizon Wireless has deployed a program called NightWatchman, which reduces the power consumed by PCs. This power management software is used on some 63,000 work stations across Verizon Wireless, resulting in a 24 percent reduction in both PC power consumption and CO2 emissions. Verizon Wireless says the program reduces annual energy costs by $1.3 million and carbon emissions by an estimated 7,700 tons.

Verizon Wireless has also deployed thin client solutions (technology that provides users access to centrally-stored programs and software) in 17 of its call centers. Thin clients require less power and generate less heat than full workstations, so Verizon can save on cooling costs.

"We also do all the obvious stuff," said company spokesperson Debi Lewis. "In our offices we recycle paper, glass and soda cans. We're also working on converting systems to use power efficient bulbs and putting lighting management systems into our buildings. For future buildings, we have RFPs (requests for proposals) for green buildings."

It also reduced the size of the boxes that its cell phones come in to make them a small as possible. This uses less materials, and allows the company to ship and store more per pallet.

Manufacturers

Intro 

We queried the five largest manufacturers about what they do to be green. Admittedly, we didn't give them much time to respond. We heard back from Nokia and Motorola. Samsung, LG and Sony Ericsson do all have lots of sustainability, end-of-life, toxic chemical reduction and recycling programs in place, but we didn't speak to them directly about those initiatives.

LG 

According to the LG web site, it has substituted harmful materials with healthier alternatives and increased the energy efficiency and recyclability of its products. Right now, it claims that no lead, cadmium, and other EU RoHS materials are used in the production of its phones. The use of nickel is also banned due to the risk of skin irritation.

In an attempt to improve energy efficiency, standby power has been reduced in mobile phone chargers, and handsets currently on the market have a charger reminder feature that notifies (beeps and displays a message) the user when the handset is fully charged.

LG is also making sure to put in place take-back, recycling and other end-of-life programs to make sure that phones are disposed of properly.

Motorola 

Motorola told Phone Scoop that it is always working to improve the environmental profile of its products. It also said it is a strong proponent and supporter of global environmental sustainability and recycling programs.

Motorola tries to make it easy for consumers to hand back their mobile phones for recycling in the U.S. Anyone can go to motorola.com/recycle to print a postage-paid label for returning their phones (any brand) to Motorola. Through the U.S. Race to Recycle program it also encourages school children to collect and return mobile phones as a fundraiser. Motorola pays the schools up to $21,000 per year for phones they return to the company.

Motorola said that it considers everything about how its phones are designed and packaged. It considers waste, energy, material content, packaging, upgradeability, reuse and recycle. Over the last several years, Motorola has reduced the mass of its portfolio of devices by 6.5 percent. It has also removed 99 percent of the lead that used to be found in its products.

Bringing up one of the points we've already discussed, Motorola has taken a close look at its phone chargers. According to Motorola, most of the energy used by mobile phone chargers occurs in standby mode, or when the charger is plugged in but not charging a phone. We already know that that is wasteful. With that in mind, Motorola has reduced the average power draw of its chargers (in stand-by mode) by 70 percent. Motorola says that every single charger it sells with its phones, headsets and other accessories are Energy Star compliant.

Nokia 

Nokia puts a lot of effort into being a green company. It has a large resource center available on its web site to help people learn more about green behaviors. The two most basic concepts it pushes are unplugging cell phone chargers, and recycling old phones.

Just last year, Nokia developed an alert for mobile phones to remind users to unplug the chargers from the wall once charging is complete. It is a pretty simple idea. When you phone is done charging, it beeps and an alert appears on the screen that says it is done charging and no longer needs to be plugged in. Heed this alert, people. It will save you money to unpiug the charger, as well as extend the life of your battery and conserve electricity.

Nokia also recently touted two separate green ideas. One was a phone made completely of recycled materials. Called "Remade", it would use nothing new in its construction. Nokia hasn't said whether or not it will ever make this phone, but the concept is a neat idea. Phones based on the Remade concept would be made out of metals from aluminum cans and plastics from drink bottles. Materials from old car tires would make up the phones' rubber key mats. The phones would also use environment-friendly technologies, including printed electronics and display graphics that save energy, according to Nokia.

Nokia introduced another concept called Eco Sensor, which is a wearable mobile phone and a sensing device that analyzes a person's health and surrounding environment. The Eco Sensor concept, follows the "reduce, reuse, and recycle" model, meaning that both the phone and the sensor unit would feature a compact design and contain materials that can be renewed or reclaimed.

Lastly, Nokia is hosting a big recycling project in San Diego this Saturday, April 26th. Check the Nokia web site for details.

Wrap Up 

In conclusion, we'd just like to say, be sure to celebrate Earth Day your way.

If that means being conscious about unplugging your phone's charger more often, cool.

If that means going through your drawers and bringing a heap of old phones to your nearest mobile retail shop, even cooler.

If that means you dig down, figure out which companies mesh with your own personal philosophy about "greenness" and spending your money with them, rock on, brother!

Just remember, there's only one Earth. Thinking globally and acting locally can have a lasting and large impact if we all do so together.

view article organized across multiple pages

Eric has been covering the mobile telecommunications industry for 17 years at various print and online publications. He studied at Rutgers Newark and University of Kentucky, and has a degree in writing. He likes playing guitar, attending concerts, listening to music, and driving sports cars.

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