Saving the world isn’t the first motivation for most people to recycle, or use CFLs, or donate items to Goodwill. Consumers are motivated by doing the right things that are EASY to do. Nurturing the planet is a happy bi-product of simple, thoughtful actions.
The guys at PlantMyPhone.com understand this principle. They have created a marvelously simple cell phone recycling model that helps reforest the planet, while keeping toxins out of landfills.
How to Recycle Your Cell Phone and Help Reforest the Planet
I was so intrigued by PlantMyPhone.com’s operational model that I reached out for an interview through their “Contact us” form. To my great surprise and delight, Hans Chung, one of the co-founders, answered my request in a couple of hours. That’s rare these days to receive such a rapid response, and it tells me a lot about their approach to customer service.
Hans told me that the primary goal of PlantMyPhone.com is to make it “Super easy” to dispose of cell phones. “People don’t carry old phones on them. They stuff them in drawers or worse, throw them in the garbage.” It’s the simplicity of their plan that makes it so powerful.
- Easy for the Consumer to Recycle: PlantMyPhone.com will send you a free mailing bag, or you can download a free, postage-paid mailing label. You can also pick up a free mailing bag at participating retailers. But they’ve only been live for two months, so their retailer network is still under construction. Plus, PlantMyPhone.com will take ANY phone, its power cord and recharging unit. Their business model allows for three levels of phones: 1. phones to be refurbished, 2. phones that are dismantled for parts, 3. phones with no redeeming value. They make money on the first two levels, and lose money on the trash phones. However, their system keeps ALL phones and their toxic innards – cadmium, lead and mercury – out of landfills.
- Simple Way to Increase Recycling Volume for Recyclers: Hans and his team simply used the internet to connect existing cell phone recycling programs with Sims Metal Management and Belmont Trading Company without having to reinvent a whole new collection and recycling model.
- Enhanced Reforestation: From recycling plants to planting trees in 12 tropical countries where reforestation can have the most impact on global warming, PlantMyPhone.com has also plugged into existing systems. They use award-winning agro-forestry programs like Sustainable Harvest to ensure the proper trees are planted in the right regions.
- Transparent Recycling & Reforestation Reporting: Did you know a first generation Apple iPhone is worth 79 trees? PlantMyPhone.com details which phones are worth what in seedlings. You can even check on the status of your phone and the trees its planting.
- Endorsed Peace-of-Mind: They and their partners adhere to a “No export, no landfill,” policy. Their partners are ISO 14001 certified and endorsed by the EPA.
Hans told me that that the average life cycle of a cell phone with a user is 18 months. According to Recycling for Charities, 148 million cell phones become obsolete and discarded annually in the US. Over 700 million cell phones will be stockpiled in U.S. homes, and 75 percent of obsolete phones are put in drawers by people who don’t know what to do with them.
Now you do.
