Apr 21 2008
AT+T Inc. announced today that the company will work with Cell Phones for Soldiers (CPFS) to drive recycling and reduce e-waste through the next year with a goal of doubling the number of cell phones the charity recycles by next Earth Day. CPFS collects and recycles mobile phones and uses the proceeds to buy free phone cards for U.S. military members and their families.
Since Earth Day 2007, CPFS has collected more than 900,000 cell phones for recycling. AT&T and CPFS have pledged to work together to help the charity collect more than 1.8 million devices by Earth Day 2009. AT&T currently supports the charity's recycling through more than 2,000 AT&T stores in more than 1,100 cities across the U.S. AT&T is expanding that support to include a network of more than 300,000 community volunteers, a national donation drive running through July 2008 and a new online starter kit for donations at http://www.att.com/recyclewireless.
According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, e-waste is accumulating three times faster than household trash. Since 2004, CPFS has collected more than 1.25 million mobile phones. The charity's recycling partner, ReCellular, estimates that this has prevented more than 125 tons of e-waste from entering landfills, including the environmental equivalents of:
- Saving enough energy to power nearly 4,000 U.S. households for a year.
- Avoiding the same amount of greenhouse gas emissions as removing more than 2,800 passenger cars from the roads for a year.
- Keeping more than two tons of toxic materials out of landfills.
"With Earth Day and Cell Phones for Soldiers, we're turning up the volume on cell phone recycling," said Paul Roth, president of Marketing and Sales for AT&T's wireless unit. "So far this year, our weekly in-store recycling averages are five times what they were in 2007 and 28 times more than the same time in 2006. AT&T is proud to support both of these worthwhile programs."
AT&T Adds New People Power: The AT&T Pioneers
One way AT&T is supporting the recycling challenge is through the added support of the AT&T Pioneers. Beginning Earth Day on April 22, a network of more than 300,000 volunteers will begin helping expand the charity's cell phone donation drives into communities across the U.S. Roughly 100 new donation locations will be established, and volunteers will work to collect phones in corporate offices and community locations from the days surrounding Earth Day through July 4 to support the environment and to help keep military families connected with free phone cards.
New Free Online Donation Drive Tool Kit
AT&T and CPFS are also launching a new online tool designed to support community groups and help individuals launch and conduct their own donation drives with a new electronic "starter kit," available at http://www.att.com/recyclewireless. The tool is available to anyone who would like to run a donation drive with CPFS, and it includes environmental tips, planning tools, camera-ready artwork for recycling bins and other relevant materials.
"We're excited to have the support of the AT&T Pioneers and a new free tool to offer our supporters," said CPFS co-founder Brittany Bergquist. "We run our charity from home, and we rely on volunteer support to collect phones for recycling. Having more helping hands to drive our mission to recycle for the troops -- and reduce e-waste -- is something that makes a huge impact on our ability to reach people and, in the end, send more free calls to the troops. Having a new free tool that anyone can use is one more way we're making it simple for people to join us."
Since AT&T launched its support, the company has also donated more than 60,000 prepaid phone cards -- valued at more than $500,000 -- to CPFS to help the charity connect more military families. In the past two years, AT&T has donated more than $4 million worth of prepaid phone cards to help support U.S. military members and their families. These donations include direct distributions to troops serving in Iraq, Kuwait, Afghanistan, South Korea, Japan and Europe. The company also has built 70 calling centers in Iraq, Kuwait and Afghanistan.
Additional information on these and other initiatives, including a list of AT&T retail locations serving as drop-off sites for CPFS, is available at http://www.att.com/troopsupport. To access donation-drive support materials, go to http://www.att.com/recyclewireless. To donate phones or funds online -- and receive a free online Earth Day greeting card -- go to http://www.att.com/holidayconnect.