14 DAY TRIAL // Wireless carrier Sprint seems determined to show to the world that it deserves to be ranked highest among all US telecoms in Newsweek’s Green Rankings. On Thursday, the company announced its support for America Recycles Day, and that it encouraged its customers into making environmentally conscious choices when it came to acquiring or disposing of products.
“With more than 140 million cell phones discarded every year in the United States, Sprint is working to combat waste and increase the recycling of electronics,” said Ralph Reid, vice president of Corporate Social Responsibility. “As an organization, we have set an aggressive industry-first goal of reaching a 90 percent phone collection rate for reuse/recycling compared with annual wireless device sales by 2017. In addition, Sprint is committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) 15 percent by 2017 and is actively pursuing new sustainable initiatives, goals and programs that will protect the environment and the communities we serve.”
The wireless carrier also stated that it actively supported the recycling and reuse of products through participating in programs like EPA’s “Plug-In To eCycling National Cell Phone Recycling” initiative. Moreover, Sprint also works on the development of new, eco-friendly products and accessories, and examples in this direction are the Samsung Reclaim mobile phone, which has been made out of bio-plastic, and the SOLIO Solar Charger. According to the company, these products offer consumers the possibility to make greener choices. Moreover, the carrier also said that it had established a green design criteria that would be applied to future devices and accessories.
“As a company, we are striving to address the environmental impact of our products’ full life cycle. And Sprint will continue to move forward, setting high standards for our industry,” Reid also added. The carrier says that it managed to collect more than 18 million handsets since 2001, and that it also managed to raise nearly $7 million for charity. In addition, it included postage-paid wireless recycling envelopes in an attempt to make consumers recycle their unused devices . More details on the carrier's green initiatives can be found here.