A wireless waste

In case you missed the buzzword train, everyone in the telecom industry is “going green.” Now it's just a matter of getting consumers to realize it. Based on a study of 50,000 U.S. households, iSuppli found that consumers who bought new mobile handsets in the fourth quarter of 2007 recycled their old ones at double the rate they did in the third quarter. Good news, except for the fact that this still represents only 9.4% of mobile handset owners.

The remaining 91% of new handset buyers either stowed away their old devices to later end up in the trash, gave them away or returned them to the stores where they bought them. Ten percent of those studied said if their handsets hadn't been stolen or lost, they simply threw them away.

Considering that there already are around 500 million unused cell phones in the U.S. alone, with as many as 120 million added each year, these numbers could prove problematic. Mobile devices include hazardous materials — mercury, lead, antimony, arsenic and zinc, to name a few — and most of them leach back into the environment. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, Americans' discarded phones create 65,000 tons of toxic waste each year.

Before the wireless industry can tackle issues such as biodegradable handsets, solar power and telepresence, customers have to get on board. Recycling phones seems like the logical place to start. Most carriers have programs that make it rewarding — either through charitable donations or financial reimbursement — to do so. Yet while the platforms are in place, they are essentially ineffectual without customer support. In an industry that is increasingly going green, ramping up cell phone recycling may be the first step in proving that environmentally sound practices are more than just a clever marketing slogan.