Getting Paid With Purpose: ReCellular Inc.

The Purpose

In 1991 two brothers noticed a trend in cell phones: waste. They thought, "hey, we can capitalize on that and make the world a better place at the same time." ReCellular, Inc. was founded to refurbish, reuse and responsibly recycle discarded cell phones. And business is booming! According to Recellular, on average 130 million cell phones are retired annually in the US alone. Just think how many cell phones have passed through your hands in the last 10 years!

ReCellular Inc. is the world's leading electronics-sustainability firm. The company makes sure all phones and accessories that cannot be reused are recycled; they recycle thousands of tons of electronic scrap every year. They donate millions of dollars to charities, and tens of millions of phones are recycled or reused in more than 40 countries. In their second annual corporate sustainability report, ReCellular announced that they prevented 612,000 pounds of hazardous waste in 2009. Check out the full 2009 sustainability report here.

The hard facts:

ReCellular collected and processed 5 million phones or nearly 15,000 every day for reuse and recycling in 2009.The company prevented more than 1.6 million pounds of solid waste from ending up in landfills.Through all of their efforts, they prevented green house gases equalling that of 1,676 cars.ReCellular recycled 945,000 pounds of materials, including handsets, batteries, phone chargers and accessories, and paper and plastic shipping materials.ReCellular reclaimed 25,000 pounds of copper, 690 pounds of silver and 75 pounds of gold from recycled circuit boards and electronics accessories.

In a recent press release ReCellular's CEO talks about how technological waste can be a threat to our natural world: "The real dangers from used electronics entering our environment is only now becoming apparent," said Steve Manning, "I am proud of the progress that ReCellular has made towards providing a tangible solution to this growing threat to our air and water."

The Profit

With the devastating earthquake in Haiti this year ReCellular started a donation program to raise funds to help those in need. Used cell phones were sent in by downloading a prepaid mailing label at www.phonesforhaiti.com; all of the proceeds went to the American Red Cross' charitable efforts. Since the company's start, charities have already earned more than $20 million dollars in contributions through their partnerships with ReCellular.

Get Involved

ReCellular has a unique cell phone donation program that anyone can organize. To find out more about organizing a cell phone donation program to raise money for your favorite charity go here. Cell phones donated will generate funds to benefit the nonprofit organization of your choice.

ReCellular launched their consumer trade-in solution in early 2010. Recycling cell phone programs collect more than 75,000 cell phones at more than 40,000 drop-off locations around the country each week. Visit www.wirelessrecycling.com for a list of over 40,000 convenient drop-off locations. Plus more information can be found at www.securetradein.com.

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Image courtesy ReCellular Inc.