Sprint is not the biggest cell phone company, but it is the most environmentally-friendly by most accounts. Sprint ranked No. 3 of all U.S. companies in Newsweek’s annual Green Rankings, well ahead of rivals AT&T (28) and Verizon Communications (54). It offered in-store recycling of mobile devices before AT&T or Verizon.
And when an independent research firm, Compass Intelligence, compared the recycling and reuse programs of the major carriers, Sprint came out on top. What’s more, Sprint’s CEO, Dan Hesse, personally has led the company’s efforts, as I learned when we met a couple of years ago. (See my 2010 blog post, CEO Dan Hesse: Sprinting towards sustainability).
So I was puzzled to see a recent AT&T press release with the headline: AT&T Customers Break World Record for Recycling Wireless Devices. The release said:
By recycling 50,942 devices during a one-week period, AT&T* customers broke the world record for collecting the most wireless devices in a week as certified by Guinness World Records.
It also noted AT&T collected about three million cell phones for reuse and recycling in 2011. The release got a lot of attention, and was widely and uncritically covered: here at the Mother Nature Network, here at Treehugger and here at Environmental Leader.
There’s just one problem.
This so-called world record is all but meaningless. Sprint almost surely recycles a lot more cell phones than AT&T, although direct comparisons are impossible.
Consider: AT&T says it collected 3 million cell phones for reuse and recycling in 2011. Sprint says it collected 11 million in 2011 – an average of more than 200,000 a week, easily topping AT&T’s so-called record.
So what’s going on here? A few things, some good, some not-so-good.
Illustration of hand holding cell phone provided by Pixel Embargo/Shutterstock
Next page: Competition pushes sustainability forward
Sorry, After reading some of
Sorry, After reading some of Gunther's very bad research on previous issues expose'd on this site, I don't trust any of it any more.
Think it through! Brain before mouth, credibility before volume....etc.
Gerry
Hi Roman, as mentioned on
Hi Roman, as mentioned on Marc's blog, I'm happy to provide some clarification. The benchmark set by the CTIA was first developed in late 2011 and just crystalized this year. In the absence of a “standard” or “benchmark” being available by the CTIA in 2011, Sprint has been working with the EPA as part of their Electronics Challenge and their Sustainable Materials Management Challenge where companies like Sprint, Dell, Best Buy, Samsung, LG and others made best in class commitments to responsible recycling, reuse and disposal of electronics. Through that effort, we believed all product going out the door and being collected should be reported and audited. So actually, Sprint exceeded what had previously been asked for by the CTIA. And yes, we thought even buyer's remorse phones should be included because ultimately they have to go somewhere and could end up being discarded. To that end, we will continue to follow both CTIA guidelines and continue our commitment with the EPA. Going back to the Guinness Book Record claim of 50K cell phones collected in a week – it seems if we compare apples to apples, Sprint still far exceeds the claim, collecting over 120K cell phones a week. I’m encouraged to hear that AT&T is joining Sprint to drive awareness around recycling wireless devices. This is important for our industry and the environment.
-Marci VerBrugge-Rhind, Corporate Communications for Sprint
What a stange situation. ATT
What a stange situation. ATT gets Guiness to certify a new "world record" for something that Sprint is apparently doing on a regular basis. I would expect more from the folks at Guiness. Seems checking the authenticity if a claim is what they should be all about. I'm sure there are probably some criteria that allow this to "qualify", but seriously.
If the numbers in the article are even close to accurate - 11 M vs
3 M - then subtracting off the 2% of "other stuff" Sprint counts, and the returned phones (Roman's argument above makes sense to me), I'm pretty sure Sprint is still blowing them away.
Thank you for your efforts and keep it up - we don't need anymore disposable phones. Use industry adopted standards if they exist.
But Guiness - we expect more when you put your name on something!
Marc, thanks for writing on
Marc, thanks for writing on the topic. Wanted to clarify one item in your post: there already are common industry metrics for measuring wireless recycling, it’s the CTIA Recycling benchmarks, which we sent to you when responding to your query. AT&T follows these standards while, based on what you say in your article, Sprint apparently does not. Rather than calling for additional standards, doesn’t it make more sense that companies first follow the standards that are already in place?
Additionally the benchmarks established by CTIA specifically exclude those devices that are returned for buyer’s remorse which Sprint includes in their wireless recycling numbers. We at AT&T feel that counting these buyer’s remorse devices as recycled does not help to foster a culture of recycling. For example, if you went to a clothing store this weekend and purchased a pink shirt but got home and realized you wanted to return the shirt and get it in blue, I think we’d all be a bit surprised if the store went on to count your returned pink shirt – which they likely would sell to another customer – as something they ‘recycled’.
– Roman Smith, Director of Sustainability Operations for AT&T