Now more than ever, policymakers and the wireless providers they regulate are finding it easier – indeed, politically and socially fashionable – to make peace with the latest iteration of the green revolution. Green has become sexy in corporate America. Executives unabashedly embrace green bling, whose seeds were understatedly planted by the late Rachel Carson a half century ago and nurtured to rock stardom by Al Gore in the present day.
The spirited campaign to save planet Earth from ourselves has fostered a mix of evolving domestic and international policies that complement voluntary efforts by industry and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to extend the life of mobile phones and their components through creative programs – many benefiting worthy social causes – that help reduce the number of discarded handsets and batteries in landfills and curb potentially hazardous levels of electronic component-containing toxins, such as arsenic, cadmium, mercury and lead, from leaching into the soil and ground water. The environment and biological systems are only so resistant to toxic assaults.
With the average life of a handset said to be around 18 months and more than 3 billion mobile-phone users worldwide, it is easy to see how colossal cellphone cesspools can materialize here, there and everywhere. The problem isn’t limited to industrial countries; it’s potentially more acute in developing nations and emerging economies that are leapfrogging straight to wireless technology for basic communications. But those countries are less likely to have the means and know-how to implement recycling programs.
Look in the mirror
While progress is being made domestically and on the world stage, much work remains. Industry, governments and NGOs are leading the way.
To date, only three states – New York, California and Maine – have cellphone recycling laws. New York’s Westchester County has a cellphone recycling law of its own.
“The current legislation in the United States is positive because it is raising awareness about cellphone recycling. The Wireless Alliance hopes that the states will remain proactive in their efforts,” said Jon Newman, VP and owner of the Boulder, Colo.-based group. Indeed, The Wireless Alliance convinced the Library of Congress to declare that unlocking mobile phones does not violate U.S. copyright law. It was a huge policy pronouncement prompted not out of a high-minded campaign to blow up the industry practice of bundling service and handsets, but rather out of a desire to reduce wireless gizmo glut.
Peter Schindler, president and CEO of The Wireless Alliance, will be a panelist on the inaugural Green Telecom & I.T. Summit at the CTIA Wireless I.T. & Entertainment convention next month in San Francisco.
Going global
The global environmental treaty – The Basel Convention and its Mobile Phone Partnership Initiative – crafts guidelines aimed at environmentally sound management of used and end-of-life mobile phones, and demonstrates the potential effectiveness of these guidelines – particularly with regard to developing countries.
“Unless companies eliminate all hazardous chemicals from their electronic products and take responsibility for the entire life cycle of their products, this poisonous dumping will continue,” said Martin Hojsik, a Greenpeace campaigner. “Electronics companies must not allow their products to end up poisoning the poor around the world.” Greenpeace claims its own investigation unearthed evidence that e-waste is being exported – often illegally – to Ghana from Europe and the United States.
MPPI partners include a number of parties to the Basel Convention itself – such as signatory United States – as well as about 10 mobile-phone manufacturers and four cellular network operators. Others, including e-waste recyclers and environmental NGOs, participate as observers.
Greenpeace claims its own investigation unearthed evidence that e-waste is being exported – often illegally – to Ghana from Europe and the United States. Above, a container of electronic waste (e-waste) from the Port of Oakland in the United States was intercepted in Hong Kong by Greenpeace activists. Reportedly, the container was destined for Guangdong province in mainland China. The import was illegal under Chinese law.
Photo credit: CNIMAGING
The European Union has the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive, which requires members to develop legislation on cellphone recycling and on other programs. The WEEE requires manufacturers to be responsible for environmentally managing gear that has reached the end of its life cycle.
China, the mother of all wireless markets, has cellphone recycling guidelines similar to the WEEE. The same goes for South Korea. Buenos Aires, Argentina, is at the vanguard of mobile-phone recycling in South America.
Climate change
Returning to a healthier environment is about more than cellphone recycling, though.
In Geneva last month, the International Telecommunication Union established a new group to focus on the impact of information and communications technologies on climate change – particularly reducing carbon emissions in the high-tech sector. The ITU said that since the 1997 adoption of the Kyoto Protocol, the number of communications and tech users has tripled around the globe, with the information-communications sector estimated to account for 2% to 3% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Still, the ITU pointed out that the high-tech sector can be part of the solution to the climate-change challenge.
“The information-and-communication technology sector has much to offer in creating a cleaner, greener world. But it must also apply international standards in reducing its own greenhouse-gas emissions,” said United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
The ITU said the new unit will start work immediately through electronic communications, with participants set to meet physically for the first time in September at Geneva headquarters under the chairmanship of David Faulkner, a networks expert at British Telecom plc. The new focus group will attempt to conclude its work by April.
“It is crucial that the ICT industry both acknowledges and seeks to reduce its role in climate change,” Faulkner stated. “Communications technologies can play a vital role in reducing carbon emissions worldwide. Developing global standards for reducing the energy requirements of networks and equipment will help make ICT an even more powerful tool for businesses to use in managing their greenhouse-gas emissions and meeting their climate change targets.”
The other green
Environment-friendly efforts in the wireless industry are not limited to thoughtful public policy, solid corporate citizenship and altruistic activism. Going green in the wireless industry has a double meaning: There’s money to be made in cellphone and battery recycling. With major stakeholders pulling in the same direction, policymakers here and abroad may feel less inclined to impose mandates on wireless providers and their retailers and handset manufacturers. Indeed, government officials are turning to the bully pulpit to influence industry behavior, and agencies are joining forces with the private sector.
“The EPA is calling on Americans to reuse and recycle old electronics,” said Stephen Johnson, embattled chief of the Environmental Protection Agency, when announcing a new Spanish-language campaign to encourage cellphone recycling. “Recycling cellphones helps the environment by saving energy and keeping useable and valuable materials out of landfills.”
Samsung announced the E200 Eco cellphone at the Olympic Rendezvous @ Samsung in Beijing. The entire external case of the phone is made of bioplastics, which contain eco-friendly, plant-based materials. The Nokia 3110 Evolve features bio-covers made from more than 50% renewable material and is packaged in 60% recycled content.
In recent months, according to the EPA, major handset vendors, wireless carriers and retailers have teamed up with the EPA and its Plug-In to eCycling program. Among the participants are AT&T Mobility, Verizon Wireless, T-Mobile USA Inc., Nokia Corp., Motorola Inc., Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications L.P., LG Electronics Co. Ltd., Palm Inc., Best Buy, Staples and Office Depot. LG, Samsung and Sony Ericsson launched cellphone recycling programs this year, the EPA stated.
The EPA said if the 100 million to 130 million cellphones that are no longer in use were recycled, there would be enough energy saved to power more than 194,000 households in the United States.
In January, the EPA launched a new education campaign tagged, “Recycle Your Cellphone. It’s An Easy Call.” The campaign is intended to increase public awareness of cellphone recycling and donation opportunities.
“Maintaining a successful national, consumer-friendly wireless recycling program has been a longstanding priority for the wireless industry,” said cellular trade group CTIA President Steve Largent in a response to the EPA effort. “Any additional effort to raise public awareness and spotlight the important issue of wireless recycling is a good thing in my book. We welcome the new campaign and look forward to working with the EPA and partnering companies as we continue to spread the message about how easy it is to recycle cellphones.”
Enforcement
But sometimes it’s all business between federal regulators and the mobile-phone industry.
In May, the EPA and Justice Department said Motorola, Siemens Corp. and GlaxoSmith-Kline each would pay a $500,000 fine for system failures that led to the release of trichloroethylene into the public drinking water system in Scottsdale, Ariz.
The EPA said in 2003 that at least 25 telecom firms – some mobile-phone carriers – acknowledged failure to adhere to the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act, the Clean Water Act, the Clean Air Act and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. At that time, more than 3,500 telecom facilities were forced to come into compliance with the four laws, mostly through two dozen civil-court settlements and EPA’s telecom audit policy. Telecom firms spent nearly $3 million to get straight and paid more than $1 million in fines for violations. But it was worth it, seeing that they escaped potential fines of $45 million. Alltel Communications L.L.C. had to pay a $1 million fine – the highest levied to date at the time – under EPA’s audit program.
United States
New York, California and Maine have laws governing cellphone, battery recycling.
Global
The Basel Convention, adopted in 1989 and signed by 158 countries, went into effect in 1992. The treaty’s purpose is to curb the proliferation of hazardous e-waste and minimize shipments of it to developing countries.
The Mobile Phone Partnership Initiative launched in December 2002 to promote cellphone recycling around the world.
Europe
The Waste Electrical & Electronic Equipment Directive has adopted several directives. One restricts the use of certain hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment; another governs electrical and electronic equipment. Both are designed to tackle the increasing waste stream of electrical and electronic equipment, and complements European Union measures on landfills and incineration of waste.
Increased recycling of electrical and electronic equipment will limit the total quantity of waste going to final disposal. Producers will be responsible for taking back and recycling electrical and electronic equipment. This will provide incentives to design electrical and electronic equipment in an environmentally more efficient way, which takes waste-management aspects fully into account.
Consumers will be able to return their equipment free of charge, under the directive.
In order to prevent the generation of hazardous waste, the WEEE requires the substitution of various heavy metals (lead, mercury, cadmium, and hexavalent chromium) and brominated flame retardants (polybrominated biphenyls or polybrominated diphenyl ethers) in new electrical and electronic equipment put on the market since mid-2006.
Asia
China has implemented a WEEE directive similar to the European Union.
Korea’s National Assembly passed recycling legislation similar to the European’s Directive on Restriction of Hazardous Substances and WEEE.
South America
The legislature for the City of Buenos Aires has taken the lead in Latin America, becoming the first major capital in the region to pass a law specifically directed towards e-waste management. Bill 509-D-2008 (the ‘E-Waste Bill’) will cover most electronic equipment. Although the law does not mention producer responsibility, the city may well implement that policy in the Integral E-Waste Disposal Plan or the regulations it will need to develop. For now, the bill must be published in the city’s official gazette to be legally binding.
Canada
The Canadian Province of Nova Scotia issued new regulations to promote the collection and recycling of electronic products. There are two phases to this e-waste regulation. Phase One, which is set to begin Feb. 1, covers large electronic waste such as computers, television, and monitors. Phase Two of the regulation should start Feb. 1, 2009. It will include cellphones. Under the program, consumers will return products to collection depots for transportation to recycling centers. Collection facilities will accept used products at no charge. The regulations require brands (manufacturers and distributors) to assume the cost and responsibility of handling the waste from their products.
Waste Diversion Ontario, an organization that implements product-recycling programs on behalf of the Ontario government, approved a revised WEEE consultation plan on July 18. The plan outlines Ontario’s initiative to implement a producer-funded electronics recycling program that would cover computers, computer monitors, televisions, printers, faxes, keyboards and computer mice. An expanded plan that would include PDAs, scanners, typewriters, modems, pagers, cellphones, answering machines and other audio visual equipment would be added one year after the initial program is approved.
Manitoba Conservation recently issued draft regulations that will implement Manitoba’s province-wide e-waste recycling program. The regulations would require producers to establish and finance a program that would collect and recycle covered products. Covered products would initially include PDAs, cellular and other telephones, among other consumer electronics.
British Columbia’s Ministry of the Environment announced that it intends to add mercury-containing products and additional electronic products to its producer-funded, product-stewardship program. B.C.’s program, which requires producers to fund and establish stewardship plans for the collection and recycling of covered products, intends to add cellphones to the
program.
Sources: The Wireless Alliance, Informa Inc. and the EU
