3 Reasons Why a Ban on E-waste Exports is Wrong

Although electronic waste can be harmful to people and the enviornment, banning it outright can have negative impacts too. Discovery News has flipped the coin and given three insightful reasons how electronics are put to use in developing countries who desparately need thier economy stimulated by advancing communication:

1) Trade bans have negative economic and social impacts by cutting jobs in the refurbishment sector and reducing supply to used markets.

2) Trade bans push the backyard recycling toward the black market.

3) Within a decade, more e waste will be generated in the developing world compared to the developed, waste that without other interventions will be recycled with high enviornmental impacts.

Time to unlock those iPhones (legally!)

A recent discussion and law passed on 'digital rights' from the Library of Congress, acknowledging the legitimacy of unlocking and jailbreaking cellphones.

Even now, Apple frowns on the jailbreaking of its iphones by voiding warranties and refusing to help solve technical issues for the customers. However, this 'freeing' of cellphones from parent companies and cellphone service providers is officially a legal activity even though it has never been actually illegal.

This is a great step for the American public towards gaining more upper-hand in the monopolistic battle between the customers and the service providers. Unlike the majority of the world, American providers lock their cellphones for specifically their own service, as opposed to having unlocked phones in which one can freely choose which service to use.

Cellphone recyclers like ourselves will become more valuable as people become more aware of the option to buy any phone and then choose their service.

Attempting to establish a world record

Congratulations to Johnson County in Kansas City Missouri for taking a tough task and putting a unique twist of encouragement to its residents. "Its a good feeling to give your electronic waste a second life" says Betsy Betros, the counties director of pollution control. "Technology is not going to stop, and we don't want it to. But we do have finite resources. Threes only one planet Earth'. Johnson County submitted results of their four tractor loads to the Guinness Book of records and are waiting to hear the result

Curing Cancer One Cell Phone at a Time

The Notre Dame office of Sustainibility is collecting cell phones for the American Cancer Society:

Cutting back on phone e-waste

Great article today in the Daily Camera.

"Cellular Recycler has been refurbishing and recycling phones in Boulder since 2003. Operations manager Jason Gelfand said the company, which employees 38 people at a large warehouse space in Central Boulder, refurbishes or recycles up to 100,000 phones each month."

Read more:

Cellphones go 3D!

Televisions sets, movie theaters and now Cellphones! The world is going 3D, leaving behind a once adored 2D, simple life.
With new technology that can actually keep track of which eye is looking at the screen, software engineers have discovered how to create video games and movies for handheld devices that targets each eye. When you send a slightly different screen to each eye, you create 3D, or rather depth perception.
Leading the game is Nokia and Hitachi, who have already produced 3D phones and are working on advancing the idea. These developers believe 2011 will bring 3D full circle in all forms of modern technology and soon become a norm for our society.
This advance, once again, will yield a whole generation of cellphones rendered useless by some but goldmines for others. Visit Cellular Recycler for more info.

Texting madness and revolution

Remember the days when you just used your phone to talk to people?

Those days are long gone, and now, simply history.

A recent study showed that 'texting' amongst teenagers has risen over %20 in the past 3 years.

Talking on their phones less and less, the next generation has fully embraced sending text and pictures messages over more traditional forms of communication.

Minority groups seem to be in the lead when it comes to paying for Internet access on their children's phones.

Our retail store has a higher demand for full keyboard (QWERTY) phones than any other type of cellphone. This appears to be a rather abrupt and recent phenomenon. Once you have the computer-esq keyboard in your hands, there is no going back. All new phones will incorporate full keyboards and push the innovative trail further for discovering more and better ways to 'text'.

For electronics recyclers like us, it is hard to keep up with the shift of interest. What are we to do with all the 'old fashioned' phones that just have numbers?

Well, there are still quite a few of us from the 'older' generation still quite content with how our phones work.

Brain Cancer and Cellphone Use Study Completed

A study funded by the European Union and the cellphone industry has just completed it's 13-country study on whether cellphone use can be linked to increased risk for brain tumors.

The report called Interphone, concluded with researchers claiming they found no substantial evidence to link the two together.

However, many critics and scientists agree; with increased use among the younger generation, more studies will need to be conducted.

The question comes to mind how much influence the 'cellphone industry' had over how the scientists were supposed 'interpret' the data. If the study came to definitively show that cellphone use is linked to the development of brain cancer, I believe there would be an uproar from the public and we would see a noticeable drop in the amount of cellphone use.

It is scary to think sometimes how little we actually know about the technologies we use and their ultimate effects on our lives.

Hopefully a new innovation for communication will lead to less radiation exposure.

Federal Communications Commission to create bill to warn of high cellphone bills

A common symptom of the American cellphone 'contract' is what we like to call ' bill shock '. You sign up for what you think is a good deal with companies like Verizon, T-mobile, AT&T in hopes of saving money. But once you're locked into your contract, crazy things can happen... Like excessive roaming or data charges that you were unaware of; sometimes in the hundreds of dollars.

BUT, alas, the F.C.C. is seeking to create a bill that will require these cellphone companies to warn customers before enacting outrageous roaming charges.

Perhaps this will revive some of the growing population that is fed up with contracts and the companies that are selling them. Either way it is time for these companies to be more responsible and sensible in how they treat their customers.

Top Cell Phone by Carrier

Ginny Miles from PC World has given us an in depth look at the top 5 phones from the top 4 US Carriers.
"Shopping for a cell phone can be overwhelming; after all, these devices do a whole lot more than just make phone calls. So which Carrier has the best selection of phones"?

Top 5 Verizon Phones

Top 5 T-Mobile Phones

Top 5 AT&T phones

Top 5 Sprint Phones

You have to pay attention to these phone models as they will pave the way in two to three years for the phones that Cellular Recycler will be recycling and re selling all over the world. What was yesterdays RAZR is today's Droid and iPhone.

Credit Card Transactions via CellPhones

You're at your local Farmer's market and see that beautiful sweet corn you'd like to grill tonight. But... you don't have any cash? Instead of asking around to find the nearest ATM, chances are you can run your credit card through the farmer's cellphone.

Companies are sprouting up daily that have easy to use plug-ins or software that allow credit card transactions on cellphones. How many times have you split the bill with your friend, but don't have the cash on the spot and end up forgetting about it? Now you can just run your credit card effortlessly between phones.

Square, PayPal and GoPayment all offer services now, usually with a monthly fee and per-transaction fee to mobilize your credit card payments.

The move away from cash has been steady and still has its resistors, but with the increase of smartphone use we can see this transition gain momentum and push us into the paper free future. The next generation will hardly know who's on the dollar bill anymore.

Cellphones have been rising in status for the past few decades and are approaching their zenith as the all-in-one device. This is a plus for recycling companies like us, whose role in society will increase with cellphone acceptance.

PREPAY vs. CONTRACT

A paradigm shift for cellphone service is occurring this year. The pre-dominant method of buying cellphone service in America has been to go to your local Verizon, AT&T, T-mobile or Sprint store and buy a phone at an extremely discounted price with an attached 2-year contract with that company (that has the actual price of the phone built in).

With the recent downturn of the economy, more people have been looking to get out of that contract and hop on a monthly service that they can easily change and end at will.

"This week, both AT&T and Verizon Wireless reported steep declines in the number of customers who signed up for contracts during the first quarter of 2010."

Will these largest corporations start to incorporate prepaid more into their plans? Either way, this opens a lot of doors for selling used phones, as people are also seeking cheaper phones that are not subsidized by their service provider.

We expect this change of how American cellphone companies operate will bring about great things in years to come, especially for us, the customer.

HTC EVO to be the first 4G phone

This summer, Sprint will release its first ever 4G android phone.
Long awaited, the next step in cellphone internet connections has arrived. What excites me is the HD video capabilities and the 8megapixel camera. Up until now, video on phones has been slow, and uploading high quality video instantly impossible.

Now you can stream your video straight to the internet/facebook/myspace/whatever as you're doing it and do it in High definition. Now that's cool. Who would have thought the day would come where you could have a high def camera and video camera in your phone and have it instantly connected to the internet?
"With built-in mobile hotspot functionality, HTC EVO 4G allows up to eight Wi-Fi enabled devices to share the 4G experience. Users can easily share an Internet connection on the go with a laptop, camera, music player, game unit, video player, or any other Wi-Fi enabled device.

With integrated HD video capture and 4G speeds, HTC EVO 4G makes slow uploads and grainy video a thing of the past. Now, it is possible to post high-quality video to YouTube™ or Facebook, or share moments in real time over the Internet live, via Qik"


The data capability of phones is accelerating and it will soon be true that you can do just about anything you want on your phone.
So, I would hold off before buying that iphone or Nexus One and see what kind of surprises the cellphone industry has for this summer.

Target to begin Cellphone recycling!

The massive corporation and everything store Target has begun collecting cellphones and old ipods in celebration of this years upcoming Earth Day!











This is exciting news, as millions of Americans regularly shop at Target stores across the country and will be exposed to simple, accessible and free electronics recycling. Up until now, finding a local source for recycling electronics has been difficult. However, with Target now reaching a majority of this country, recycling should be easy.

If you feel you could earn money from your old phones, then try selling them on craigslist, or shipping them to a recycling company like Cellular Recycler to get some money for them.

This is exciting progress for nationwide recycling efforts and corporate involvement.

iPad is out, and Apple's OS 4 is revealed

iPad's are out on the loose all over the country. For those lucky 300,000 or so people who received their iPad's on the first day, the life-altering technology is starting to transform them. Hundreds of online reviews and blogs are out covering the initial experiences with iPad. My favorite thus far is GIZMODO's personal exploration.

There are many skeptics still out there, wondering if they really need another device. Truth is, you don't. But the iPad certainly is a fun toy.


What else is new to the cellphone/apple world? OS4. Apple recently unveiled their new software for iphone 3GS, ipod touch and ipad. Not to be released until later in the summer, OS4 will allow multi-tasking (the main complaint on the ipad), personal backgrounds, and folders.


You should probably hold out for the next generation of iphone or late summer for the iPad before unnecessarily upgrading. But if you do, be sure to recycle or resell your old phone or computer. We can expect 2G's to be obsolete within a year, and the 3G shortly thereafter.

More companies, bigger market, more money

Cash for old electronics has become a popularized form of recycling. A dream for many of us 'die-hard environmentalists' has always been to create a reward system to encourage recycling behavior.

The (EPA) has announced a dramatic increase in companies that are making this dream come true. Today, there are more opportunities to recycle those electronics than ever before... and make some cash at it.

Not even 5 years ago there were no avenues to dispose of electronics, let alone recycle them without sending them to the landfill grave.

Now there is a flourishing market with numerous companies out there waiting to help you and keep our electronics out of the landfills.

Check out some of these websites for more info.

Earth 911

BuyMyTronics

Gazelle

YouRenew

CellularRecycler

National Recycling Week to begin!

2nd annual National Cell Phone Recycling Week begins April 5 – 11, 2010.

" Last year, Americans turned in approximately 11.7 million cell phones for reuse and recycling."

However, there are still an estimated 150 million phones still out there in drawers across the nation. So come on people, help spread the good word, and let's give all those phones new lives and help raise money for your favorite non-profits.

Let's make this the best cellphone recycling year ever! Tell your friends and family to participate, gather the phones up and send them to your local recycling facility.

Thanks to the United States Environmental Protection Agency for putting together this wonderful week celebrating e-cycling and cellphone revival.

Iphone app to lead the way towards free calling

Budding heads directly with the traditional dollars for minutes routine that most service providers offer, Line2 creates another line on your Iphone with contacts and more, used either over of the existing 3G network or through WiFi hotspots.

This appeals to a lot of people, because if they spend most of their time surrounded by WiFi, they can have all the free phone calls they want and save money. It's a brilliant application for Apple and opens the doors to free calls over the internet everywhere.

You can now turn your ipod touch into a phone when you're within reach of WiFi signals. Better yet, the sound quality is increased from the normal voice calls.

Perhaps cellphones are moving away from having 'data' plans and towards an ever-connected internet device that can meet all your needs at once.

Either way, keep recycling those old phones and be ready for the next jump in technology to arrive.

Would you remember to recycle your phone for a lottery ticket?

Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) recently launched a nationwide cell phone recycling campaign incentivized by essentially, a lottery. When you buy another new phone and recycle your old one, you’ll receive a “gift voucher” potentially worth $540, $54, or $11.

What’s really smart about this program is that the Japan’s METI has essentially found a way to provide a significant ‘potential’ value for the consumer by recycling their cell phone instead of trying to offer a complicated buy back’ program which provides a specific value for each phone, many of which would be worth $.25 to $2. The vast majority of cell phones not in use today are worth very little when turning them into a recycler or buyback program due to all of the logistics, processing and labor it takes to turn that phone around into a usable refurbished unit.

How many people do you know that would remember to dig out their old cell phone from the closet, and turn it in for a quarter? Not worth it right?

Well what if you could get a lottery ticket worth over $500? The bottom line is people are much more likely to do something if you turn it into a game or ‘lottery’ in this case. I absolutely love this idea and can’t wait to see if it garners any success in Japan.

Cell Phone Radiation - Does the test still make sense?

It seems every year a study comes out revealing the radiation levels of the newest phones to hit the market. This year, Motorola had 6 of the top 20, while Blackberries made up 4 of the top SAR models.

Measured in SAR (specific absorption rate levels) which is the amount of radio energy absorbed by your body, the tests that measure the SAR levels specifically measure the human head using a model filled with a fluid which represents the same absorption properties of a human head. Although, its interesting that they perform these tests on a model of a large male head with small ears according to sarvalues.com. As a large head is more likely to absorb more radiation.

Whats interesting is how the culture of cell phones has started to make the test seem outdated and a poor representation of how we use our cell phones today. What about the SAR measurement when your texting or browsing the web? Now, with your hands being smaller than your head, there's a pretty good chance that the SAR rating wouldn't be any higher and, in fact could be lower. But, what about when you have your smart phone updating your e-mails every hour in your pocket? Seems like your whole midsection has a little more mass than your head, and therefore could absorb more radiation.

Why hasn't the FCC updated the test to include the 'in pocket' SAR when your phone is busy keeping you connected to the digital world of facebook, twitter, & e-mail updates that we can't live without?

For a list of the SAR ratings on some of the phones you grew up check out http://www.sarvalues.com/usa-complete.html