The U.S. Postal Service Earns $250,000 for Recycling Cell Phones

Last month, Call2Recycle published a survey that indicates that although the majority of the public suffers from “green guilt” from not properly recycling cell phones and other types of technology, people feel it is often too complicated or too much of a hassle for people to go through. Sprint (News - Alert) has made some efforts to raise awareness of greener methods of disposing technology by offering incentives for people to recycle with their Buyback Program. Today, the program awarded the U.S. Postal Service a check for $250,000 for recognition of their good work in e-cycling.

Sprint’s Buyback Program is a program that encourages Sprint customers to recycle old phones. Although it is unlikely that one person will receive an astounding cash reward, such as the one for the U.S. Postal Service, customers can earn up to $300 in account credit. Of course, it is also unlikely that customers have access to the amount of old devices as the Postal Service. Since 2001, 28 million wireless devices have been retrieved from landfills, as a result of the Buyback Program, and Sprint hopes that by publicly recognizing the postal service, they will draw more awareness to this issue.

Among the many interesting facts that came to light from Call2Recyle’s survey, was that men were more likely to pay extra for electronics if the company had some sort of recycling system for older products. Basically, men would pay more to not have to deal with the hassle, and since many companies have strict requirements or even fees for how to dispose of electronics, recycling can indeed be a hassle. However, many women expressed that manufactures should share in the responsibility to recycle, and the solution should be left for them to conceive. Best Buy (News - Alert) has now started to make better recycling efforts by volunteering to take old electronics off people’s hands, regardless of where it came. But despite the efforts of Sprint and Best Buy, there are really not many other companies that have shown concern for a greener disposal of their products.

Sprint’s Buyback Program recycles technology in two different ways. The devices that can be restored are fixed and resold. Otherwise, Sprint turns to certified recycling programs to make sure that the device is properly disposed of.