The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is working with the mobile phone companies to encourage American consumers to recycle their old mobiles. This is an integral part of the US National Cell Phone Recycling week. Apparently around 130 million mobiles are thrown away by Americans every year. The EPA say that recycling them would save energy, reduce pollution and valuable elements such as gold, silver and copper could be recovered. The EPA is hoping they can change people’s mindsets from just throwing mobiles out with the rubbish.
Various approaches are being used to encourage mobile phone recycling. A video by Sprint on YouTube uses ridicule and humour to exhort users to recycle. It says that just throwing the phone out with the rubbish is about as clever as keeping the fridge door open to keep the house cool.
Samsung’s approach is more subtle. They are having a sweepstake for schools and providing recycling teaching materials. Samsung consider schools are the place to focus encouragement to recycle and where passion for it can be built. The school that wins will receive a private concert by the rock band Hey Monday. Others will get cash prizes.
Samsung hopes their initiative will collect a million phones, which the EPA say will result in the reclamation of 75 pounds of gold, 772 pounds of silver and 35,274 pounds of copper. There would also be the additional benefits of energy savings, less air and water pollution and greenhouse gas reductions.