Stay with the White Elephant

It seems like everywhere I turn companies have decided to cancel their holiday parties this year. Citing dropping stock prices, sinking revenues, overall economy worries, etc., organizations of all sizes and types are joining the trend. Even companies that are doing well are forgoing the yearly festivities because they would be “inappropriate” or “insensitive” in this time of uncertainty and layoffs. Apparently scaling down from previous year’s party is not enough-

It is a tough decision.

Celebrating the holiday season has a very human basis to it that is independent of whether these are good times or bad. Companies can’t treat a traditional event, even one as unnatural and stilted as subjecting everyone’s spouse to my drunken 08 reflection and 09 outlook. You spend so much time around these people during the year that it is flat necessary to get a quick peak into who they spend all their other time with, and what they are like when they bring that new fiancé that nobody has yet seen. I understand not wanting to insult employee’s intelligence when they overhear sales totals, but what about your guys you can’t do without? Doesn’t their morale count?

Sure you have to be sensitive to budgetary concerns but that should mean scale back, not phase out.

Survey calls for recycling of old handsets

Nokia Communications Manager East and Central Africa, Dorothy Ooko briefs the press on the newly launched Take Back and Recycling Campaign in Kenya for old handsets. Please click here to view Nokias efforts for e-waste in Africa.

Part 2: Designing the Papa John's Collection Program

This multipart project consisted of on-air advertising, web messaging and, most importantly, internal communication for the Papa Johns Pizza team. We were confident in our ability to get the web portion of the campaign dialed in and get recycling collection boxes to the stores for customers who picked up. Management at Papa Johns was excited about the new promotion as well, but their internal communication would be intense. Papa John’s marketing team had to communicate to 81 store managers and also wanted to provide incentives for both stores and employees.

Looking at the radio spots, we needed to reach the 313K KYGO weekly audience. We calculated the 41 Colorado stores who deliver thousands of pizzas per week in coordination with the $17K in advertising budget dollars for the 40-day length of the campaign. We put our heads together and decided on the evening drive time. There would be a 3:30 to 7:00 p.m. 30-second drive time spot and the 60-second live version that would hit the drive time audience between the hours of 5:00 to 6:30 p.m. by the drive time DJ Catfish. We really liked the fact that a personality would carry our message. Sometimes the best you can do is make these decisions based on personal habits and advice from the experts in radio. I have a tendency to change the channel when I hear a commercial but when my DJ keeps talking into his segment I generally listen. According to our calculations, if 2% of the 313K listeners who heard our message, believe in our mission, and donated their phone over the life of the campaign, we would break even and at worst get some good exposure out of this campaign. If we got over 2% then it would be high fives all the way around.

We placed the Papa Johns banner on the Cellular Recycler home page linking to the campaign details page. If a participating customer would want to learn more on where the donations would be going or what would happen to their old phone they wouldn’t have to dig too deep to get their desired information.

We knew when writing this 30-second spot, there is little time and many words needed to get a point across. Our order of priority was: free breadsticks, give without giving during the holiday season, Papa Johns Pizza, supporting our troops, and THEN Cellular Recycler. Our name says what we do but the last thing on our mind was brand recognition because the focus was phone collection.

Read Part 1 of this series.

Guide to Greener Electronics

Greenpeace recently wrote the guide to greener electronics about the top 18 manufacturers recycling guide which included mobile phones.
Nokia does have the easiest phones and readily available parts for refurbishing. Refurbishing is reuse and I can speak on behalf of cell phone recycling.

I suspect the climbers in the middle have some hefty advertising budgets rather than solutions they are putting in place but either way the article is a good temperature gage for where we are at today.

Green your Routine

Being in the green business world I am always curious when a large conglomerate campaigns or advertises their green message. During Sunday Night football last night, I noticed that the NBC peacock was all green, instead of the usual rainbow, so I went to the website. I have to say that the Green Tips section from the main page were a lot of fun to read and it actually got me thinking about all the computers and the server we have running here at Cellular Recycler. I have included the ‘work’ section from the Green Tips below but if you have the time go through the rest of these helpful tips.

-Make your coffee break greener. There are many ways to make your coffee break eco-friendly. For example, putting sugar in your cup before you pour your coffee will eliminate the need for a stirrer. Also, use a ceramic mug instead of a Styrofoam or paper cup.

-Print smarter. Printing and copying can be one of the most costly operations in any office. To save on ink and paper costs, print double-sided and try to fit more than one page on a sheet. More printing tips can be found on Life Hacker

-Turn off your computer. Do you leave your computer on overnight? If so, you're using up a good amount of electricity. When you can, try turning off your computer and the power strip it's connected to. If you can't, at least shut off your monitor. Remember, screen savers don't save energy.

-Recycle at the work place. It seems easy enough, but if you're office doesn't do it already, suggest putting recycling bins in your kitchen and copy rooms. You'll feel less guilty about throwing away all that paper.

-Use eco-friendly utensils. Replace those plastic knives and forks in the break room with silverware or biodegradable utensils. If you have the space, try to get everyone in the office to bring their own mugs and plates from home.

It just goes to show you even when the environment is on your mind every day you can still lose sight of the basics. Not only do the basics help lessen the footprint we make, the basics can help you save a little green, and right now that is needed advice.

Part 1: Hatching an Idea for the First Cell Phone Recycling Pick-Up Campaign

For the next few weeks, I will be blogging about a new Cellular Recycler campaign with Papa John's Pizza. Here is my first post about the idea behind the campaign.



Shortly after the 2007 NFL football season, I was listening to Sports Radio 950 the fan (now FM 104.3). Now, I have never done radio advertising and we definitely haven’t done it for Cellular Recycler. But, as I was listening, I thought it might be a good venue for letting soccer moms and football dads out there know that there was a new fundraising option instead of the every day popcorn and Christmas wreath sales that both kids and parents (and their parents' officemates)have to endure. The station was nice enough to invite us down to talk about a possible partnership. Admittedly, I didn’t know exactly what we were after, except that I felt it was time to take cell phone recycling to the people through a more widespread public campaign.

Although it was fun to see Scott Hastings and Alfred Williams doing their radio show, it wasn’t a great fit initially. We found out pretty quickly that 90% of their listeners were male. (You might say ‘duh’, but remember that at the time we were new to the whole radio advertising thing.) From our experience of building ground floor collection campaigns with companies like the American Cancer Society, we knew that we really needed to communicate with women in order to have a successful campaign. (Why? Honestly, I don’t know, but I plan to explore this in a future post.) Bottom line – sports radio was definitely not the right medium to test this “widespread public campaign” concept. Nonetheless, we left the meeting with confidence because at least we tried, failed, and learned from the experience.

It turned out that all wasn’t lost because Lincoln Financial Media, owner of 950 The Fan, also owns the country pop station KYGO, and it has a very solid and faithful base of female listeners. Our account rep had taken the cell phone recycling and fundraising concept to one of the station’s clients, Papa John’s Pizza. All of a sudden, we had a huge company like Papa John’s Pizza that was looking for an environmental edge and loved being the first with a message like this to its customers.

In the past, our team has fought and fought to get out cell phone recycling kits to business and non-profits, place recycling bins in retail stores, and train employees at wireless carriers about recycling. But this idea was truly different. This would be an opportunity for us to partner with a great company, promote the program to the general public, offer people a way to recycle their electronics, and raise money for a great cause. Papa Johns Pizza was even willing to offer its customers free breadsticks for their donation and use the program to fundraise for one of Papa John’s charitable partners, the USO.



Given what’s going on with the economy and how likely charitable organizations are to suffer, everything just seemed to click. Within three hours, our teams had hashed out a plan and set the wheels in motion for the first pick-up campaign for cell phone recycling. And at Cellular Recycler, we finally had a chance to take a campaign directly to the people.



Stay tuned – next I’ll talk about how we designed the collection program.

Making it Convenient to be Green

Thought you might want to see a featured piece on Cellular Recycler from Handset & Accessory magazine this month. I don’t know if you guys are on-line subscribers so click here to view the full article.

Metro P Cricket S

The Recession this country faces may actually be helping the low end wireless guys like Metro PCS and Cricket Wireless. Consumers are turning to VOIP at home or lighting up pre paid units to cut costs where they can. An article in the Wall Street Journal recently let its readers know of Metro PCS’s intent to re-use other carriers used phones. Our business is recycling these old phones and giving them new life but two name brand carriers of the pre-paid persuasion are now being more up front about what phones they let light up on their network. One wonders if this sales tactic or ploy is for activation numbers or an advertising effort to keep up with their Cricket Competitors. I am willing to bet we see the ‘green’ go away in my neighborhood and see the bright lights of orange, red and purple signs light up our pre-paid space here in Colorado.

Papa Johns partners with Cellular Recycler

Donate a Cell Phone, Enjoy Free Breadsticks, Support our US Troops and Protect the Environment

Colorado Papa John's pizza locations will be collecting old, unused, broken and still working cell phones this holiday season. Every customer who drops off or gives a cell phone to a Papa John’s delivery driver will be given a gift certificate for a FREE order of breadsticks with their next order. All cell phones will broken down for parts or refurbished by local Boulder company Cellular Recycler. All efforts are taken to protect the environment and prevent unused cell phones from polluting our landfills. Proceeds from the collection of these cell phones will be donated, on behalf of Papa John's Pizza of Colorado, to the Rocky Mountain USO to benefit our US Troops.

WHEN: NOV 5 thru DEC 15
WHO: Papa John’s Delivery Drivers asking for and picking up old, unused, broken and still working cell phones to benefit our US Troops and our precious environment.
MORE INFORMATION: Visit http://www.cellularrecycler.com/papajohns

i commute

For most of my professional career I have carried a standard issue cell phone. I use it like any other red blooded American. I make calls, send texts, and answer my voicemails. My good friend Sam Crumbaugh from Sony Ericsson http://www.sonyericsson.com/cws/home?cc=us&lc=en who I have known for years always gives me my standard yearly issue Ericsson or so they are now called Sony Ericsson. I have been back and fourth with a few prototypes. Some good like the Z710 and others like the new 580i. The Z710i and I have a good relationship as it has held up well and been a good friend for years.

One of my fundamental problems being 36 is that I have always been on the outer cusp of being a high tech guy. I have been a part of the wireless industry for 12 plus years now and have never once got caught up in the hype of technology. New technology was not something that I was really interested in as I considered myself as the junk yard dog of the cell phone world. Whatever was produced and produced in mass would eventually be flowing downward and my recycling stream would pick it up.

I have a dead spot on my way home from work and as an old school salesman I am on the phone. I finally had it with T- Mobile and for the first time in my life considered actually purchasing a new phone. Keep in mind what I do. I have never ever had to get an activation much less actually purchase a ‘retail priced’ phone. With the current hype surrounding the iphone http://www.apple.com/iphone/ I graduated toward an AT&T store and immediately grabbed the display unit. I looked at my wife Anne and said ‘well which one the black or white’?

My hesitation or fear with a PDA was that I didn’t want to be connected to work 24/7 so I told myself that I would ease into this new devise and not make myself crazy.

I mentioned to you my resistance or ‘old school nature’ well that changed the second I opened the box and their was no manual. That was the coolest thing ever and I was hooked on whatever apple had in store with me and this new phone. I got the itunes, I got the email synced, I got the weather settings and some cool apps. Man, I love this phone!

As time goes by with anything excitement fades, but this is not what this story is about. I am sharing my thoughts with you as a small business owner today, as I am two months in with my new iphone. It is my job to know when it is a good idea for a person who works here at Cellular Recycler to have this kind of device and whether or not it can be a valuable tool to make a certain employee or there respective company more money. What I found in my situation living here in Boulder Colorado http://www.bouldercoloradousa.com/ is that my commute is short and my routine is steady. I live a few miles away. I am not stuck in Los Angeles traffic two hours each way. I get home, I go to the gym across the street, I make and eat dinner then I get on my computer for an hour or so. My routine as a small town businessman allows me to have computer access basically on command so the feature and fear of having my business life glued to my fingertips never became the reality.

The reality is this. From a phone guy, this is a cool phone. No doubt the coolest I have put in my pocket. But for a small business owner and having to make the decision for the income generators and decision makers of Cellular Recycler the coolness and infinite features doesn’t outweigh the $150 per month usage charge in our case of doing business in a small town.

Brandon Greenhaw

Hollywood needs a 'green' phone

The idea was posed here at Cellular Recycler to make a Green phone. Sure the idea of a recycled phone or a phone remanufactured from spare parts isn't a new idea; it is in fact darn near old as the cell phone industry is as a whole. But what about that very phone that is comprised of used parts that would include a green shell. Not just green plastic but actually 'green' recycled plastic that is actually the color GREEN.

This idea has been bounced around by between the management of Cellular Recycler but a conclusion has never been reached to actually pull the trigger on the molding and texture of this 'green' phone. One of our fundamental problems is that we needed to make this product cool for US consumers. Selling a used or vintage phone to today’s youth is a road that I quite frankly I will not spend the time on.

My thought at it's inception is that if we could find a Hollywood contingent that would find our product appealing and sport it as a fashion accessory to being a better steward of the environment then we will have a product that will in fact sell and has the potential for millions in revenue. You see what David Pinsky and Motorola are doing here in this article that makes so much sense: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m5072/is_29_22/ai_63639213

Every company is looking for that green edge because that is the trend. Their isn't a fortune 500 company that wont have a snippet of sustainability phrasing in there website because it is a monkey see monkey do world. I do hope that the David Pinsky's of the world with the help of the millions that a company like Motorola has in their advertising and PR reserves will be interested in maybe a different type of campaign. A campaign and product line that lessens the global footprint on the earth my just making and selling new phones to their public. This plan would and could just be another model in Motorola’s lineup. Remember that Motorola has a job and that is to sell cell phones. This is just a new creative way to do it-

Brandon Greenhaw
Cellular Recycler

Electronic Serial Killers

A scam that is little known about out in the cellular industry relies on using esn’s (electronic serial number) of handsets that are not actually being activated. By playing with this scam game, a person can gain sometimes a free month of service (depending on the carrier’s promotions at the time) or at least getting a spiff (commission) for a new activation. A person will request esn’s from a vendor and claim to be verifying it with the carrier they are saying they are planning to activate it with.

Ultimately they are taking that esn and assigning it to a phone of their own that they can sell and activate for more money versus buying the unit from the vendor and using it. This is a common issue on Ebay as well where “rookie” Ebay stores will post esn’s to try to gain credibility with the prospective buyer yet will become a victim instead of making a sale.

Last but not least another common practice is taking a manufacturer esn and using it with a higher end unit, like buying a Motorola v262 failed unit for $2.00 and then taking that esn and using it with a Motorola v3c refurbished that you are selling for $120.00 and are gaining a free month of service to boot. It’s a crazy world out there in the resale world so everyone be careful and hang onto your product’s identity till it is paid for and shipped.

Certifiable Cities

Throughout the years with being involved in the wholesale industry I have realized trends in cities where there are companies that consistently prey upon other vendors by stealing handsets through the use of counterfeit cashiers checks or through canceled company checks. Brooklyn, Houston, Detroit (and surrounding cities), and Harlem are a few examples of areas that are occupied by crooked individuals. Houston and Detroit being the most disappointing since they are two of the fastest growing areas yet are laden with corrupt individuals which deter my interest in selling to new customers altogether. But the real question is why this continues to be an issue in these areas of the country. Are criminal charges for using fraudulent checks within the states of Michigan, Texas, New York so light that they can get away with it or is it due to the robust size of these metropolitan areas where law enforcement has other obligations to attend to besides felony theft?

Factory Refurbished or Level 4. You be the judge.

Remember the old days where factory refurbished really meant the manufacturer handled the refurbishment? They even had a warranty to go along with the handsets as well? The product was amazing and at that time, continued to extend brand loyalty further out in the developing world long after a model had been discontinued in the U.S. Russia is a prime example of an emerging cellular market that is very loyal towards one brand, Nokia.

Now, others in the wholesale industry have embraced this product condition as a term in which they can attempt validate their own sourced or refurbished product that it is OEM quality and is above all other refurbished goods in the market. But to make matters worse, barely any manufacturers handle their own refurbishment (all is outsourced) and they don’t stand behind their product anymore either.

I don’t mind that manufacturers have honed in their business to a point where parts are no longer in abundance and are forced to use them up on out of warranty/ BER handsets. What are hard to accept though are manufacturers not offering out warranties on their refurbished goods. Selling handsets that have been cosmetically reconditioned to a new condition and still are being sold as is makes it difficult to buy these products with confidence anymore.

Greener Gadgets Confrence

Last week, the Greener Gadgets Confrence in New York, revealed some new greener technologies that could show up sooner than you'd think. With cell phones quickly becoming a hot topic in the e-waste discussion the new green technologies manufacturers are experimenting with could quickly make it to market.

Photo courtsey of Cnet.com

Nokia showcased a phone with the outer casing made from Bioplastic. This form of plastic utilizes renewable raw materials and is more friendly to recycling. Nokia plans to bring their first bioplastic phone to the Euro market late in Q1.

Learn More about Brandon Greenhaw

How does Cell Phone Recycling work?

Inform, a non-profit environmental research company, has recently produced a short video explaining how cell phone recycling works, and what isn't working about it. Inform is responsible for researching most of the statistics used by anyone who ends up writing an article about cell phone recycling, not to mention how often it can be found on cell phone recycler's websites.

The only inaccuracy about this film is that many cell phone recyclers don't remove the information from your phone. The information from you phone will most likely get erased during the refurbishing process, however, this is not a responsibility cell phone recyclers typically take on due to the time intensive nature of the process.

Nonetheless the rest of the video answers many of the frequently asked questions from my experience, and was well put together. Check it out below.

Click here to learn more about Brandon Greenhaw

Cell Phone Jail

Bob Sullivan, an MSNBC technology consultant, recently wrote about the plight Americans are facing every day with postpaid carriers and some tricky ways out of your contract. As we all know, most wireless carriers in the U.S. make you sign your life away for a free phone. This practice effectively does two things, misconstrue Americans perception of the actual cell phone value (Razors are not free believe it or not) and forces premature upgrades.

Currently, the average life of a cell phone in America is 18 months, while its been proposed in certain studies that a cell phones have actually been designed to last up to seven years. Before there was a cell phone recycling market, this frequent upgrading was creating unnecessary e-waste. However, the general public is wising up and realizing that their old phone still has a use. Whether its being melted down for its precious metals, being provided as a 911 life line, or raising money for a non-profit, retired phones are increasingly finding an alternate home.

There are a myriad of companies out there that will take your old phone and find a second home for it, but how do you choose one? Here are some helpful hints in choosing a company to give your old cell phone to:

• Price guide: Make sure you read the fine print. Some companies will only pay you if your phone is in perfect working order. Also, don't be fooled into thinking your going to get the most for your cell phone just because they pay UP TO $300. Odds are your not going to have that type of phone to turn in, its a marketing scam.
• Shipping: Shipping should always be free. Most of the companies offer free shipping via USPS, UPS, or FedEx.

Click here to learn more about Brandon Greenhaw

Maine Adopts Cell Phone Recycling Law

Following California and New York, Maine became the third state in the U.S. to put a cell phone recycling law in place effective January 1, 2008. This law, closely following California's Cell Phone Recycling Act of 2004, requires retailers who sell cellular phones to provide a free cell phone recycling option to their customers. Starting January 1, 2009 retailers will be required to report how many phones were collected to the Maine division of the EPA.


For years now there has been a trend of state legislatures addressing E-scrap issues by passing laws requiring manufacturers to take back their own products when they've reached their end of life (here is a great site that is keeping track of who's doing what). However, cell phones are getting special treatment because of the value they carry in their second life. Private companies across America have proved for years that cell phone recycling is a profitable venture, and local governments are taking notice.

By making cell phone recycling a law, local legislatures are giving the economy as well as the environment a boost, as the more cell phones there are to be recycled, the more new jobs get created to process those cell phones.

What happens to the information on a phone that gets recycled?

The majority of phones that are recycled actually get re-used. But, before they can end up in an end consumer’s hand, they typically get refurbished. This is the process of cosmetically/functionally repairing a phone. During the refurbishing process phones will eventually be hooked up to a flashing station which clears out the memory of a phone in order to re-load new software onto the phone. The company that you turned your phone into does not necessarily have the capability of clearing the data of every phone that comes in their door, not to mention that it is cost prohibitive for them to do so.



However, its usually very easy for you to clear the data out of your phone before you turn it in. Go to the Security option in your main menu (or it could be under the setting menu) this menu option typically requires a password which is almost always the last 4 digits of the phone number that was registered to that phone (even if its not active). The key words to look for in the security menu are Master Reset, and Master Clear. These will usually erase your phone book, Text messages, and Call Log. If you are still having trouble, use the internet to search out your phone model + master clear.

Union Wireless to recycle cell phones for the American Cancer Society

Union Wireless, a rural telecommunications provider to Northern Colorado, Wyoming, and Utah, has setup recycling drop-offs at all of their retail locations. All proceeds from these recycled phones gets donated to the American Cancer Society.

Here is a cool add they were running during the Planet Earth Series on the Discovery channel.

To look up their store locations you can follow this link

EPA Press Release: Recycle Your Cell Phone. It's an Easy Call.

The EPA recenty issued a press release more specifically addressing cell phone recycling. The EPA's Plug-In to eCycling program, a partnership between the EPA and electronics manufacturers has been in existance for a number of year now, but it appears that the EPA has decided to put an emphasis on the cell phone recycling component.

Reasons for this may be due to the sustainable nature of cell phone recycling, as there is a large market for old phones which helps cover the costs of cell phone recycling and in some cases can even net in a profit.