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Environmentalists
identify new menace: discarded cell phones
NY Times - 10/8
As the nation's
fondness for cellphones grows, the environmental effects do, too.
According to
industry figures, cellphone use in the United States has surged,
to more than 128 million subscribers last year from 340,000 in
1985. Typically, each phone is used for 18 months before being
dropped for a newer model.
That is starting
to add up to a huge amount of waste, says Inform, an environmental
organization that issued a report this year on old phones. The
Environmental Protection Agency helped finance the study.
By 2005, the
report estimates, 130 million cellphones will be thrown out each
year. Counting the phones, batteries and chargers, that comes to
65,000 tons a year, the report said. Although some phones may just
stay unused in desk drawers, the report said, most will end up in
landfills or being incinerated.
"This is
becoming a very serious problem, because the amount of cellphone
waste is growing tremendously," said Eric Most, director of
the solid waste prevention program at Inform. "These
chemicals accumulate and persist in the environment. They get in
the plants, soil, water, and then move up the stream to
humans."
The threat of
cellphone waste is not restricted to the United States. More than
a billion cellphones are used worldwide, and Japan and several
European countries have started pressuring manufacturers to
eliminate toxic chemicals.
Researchers at
Inform say companies can act to eliminate waste by creating
take-back programs that offer discounts on new phones or phone
service in exchange for returned equipment.
"If
producers have to take back their cellphones, they have an
incentive to make products that generate less waste and are easier
to recycle," said Bette K. Fishbein, an economist who was
lead author of the study. "Australia has a nationwide
take-back program, and Europe is about to mandate that companies
take back their electronics. The same should be done in the
U.S."
Some companies,
including
Verizon
and
Sprint
, do have take-back programs, but the main industry group, the
Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association, opposes
mandatory programs. Rather than requiring manufacturers to dispose
of old phones, the industry prefers programs in which old phones
are turned over to charities or resold in less developed
countries, said Travis Larson, a spokesman for the group.
Some states have
taken small steps to promote reusing cellphones. A
government-financed program in Maryland collects used cellphones
that are recycled or reprogrammed and given to the elderly so they
can call 911 in an emergency.
"Recovery of
cellphones is occurring on a much larger scale in other countries,
often with the cooperation of manufacturers and retailers,"
the Environmental Protection Agency said in a statement in August.
"E.P.A. is interested in working to encourage similar
developments in the United States."
The agency is
working with Inform on a follow-up study to examine the
effectiveness of reusing and recycling cellphones.
In the meantime,
Ms. Fishbein said, American manufacturers should limit waste by
standardizing design elements so consumers have fewer reasons to
buy new phones.
Although
manufacturers are working to reduce their use of toxic materials,
they oppose a mandated technical standard, Mr. Larson said.
"If we had
had a government standard in the beginning," he said,
"we'd still all be speaking on analog phones. And that means
no e-mail, no text messaging, no Caller ID. Competition equals
innovation in this case."
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