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Address: INFORM INC  5 Hanover Square Floor 19, NY,NY10004-2638 212.361.2400


Press Releases

Press Releases > [New Study on Wireless Waste]

Press Contact: Sophie Cardona: (212) 361-2400, ext. 244 , or email cardona@informinc.org

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, MAY 8, 2002

130 MILLION CELL PHONES WILL BE DISCARDED ANNUALLY IN THE US BY 2005 STUDY RECOMMENDS WAYS TO REDUCE THE ENVIRONMENTAL AND HEALTH IMPACTS OF CELL PHONE WASTE

New York, NY –– Cell phone use has grown dramatically in the United States, from 340,000 subscribers in 1985 to over 128 million in 2001, reports Waste in the Wireless World: The Challenge of Cell Phones, a study released today by the national environmental research organization INFORM. Cell phones are typically used for only 18 months before being replaced, and by 2005 about 130 million of these devices, weighing approximately 65,000 tons, will be retired annually in the US. Most of them will initially be stored away in closets and drawers, creating a stockpile of about 500 million used phones that will soon enter the waste stream.

Waste in the Wireless World analyzes the environmental problems created by cell phones, which also apply to other wireless electronic devices, such as personal digital assistants, portable e-mail devices, pagers, pocket PCs, and MP3 music players. All are made of similar materials and present similar problems with respect to the waste they generate. Wireless waste poses particularly acute problems when these small devices are sent to landfills or incinerators, where releases of the many toxic materials they contain create threats to human health and the environment.

“Because these devices are so small, their environmental impacts might appear to be minimal,” said Bette Fishbein, INFORM Senior Fellow and report author. “But the growth in their use has been so enormous that the environmental and public health impacts of the waste they create are a significant concern. Now is the time to address them.”


Waste in the Wireless World
presents a series of specific recommendations for minimizing the environmental and health impacts of cell phone waste:

Design-related Recommendations

Disposal-related Recommendations

Progress Abroad, Pressure at Home

INFORM’s study documents efforts in Europe, Japan, and Australia to deal with this fast-growing and hazardous waste stream. For example, Australia has implemented the world’s first and only nationwide take-back program dedicated to recovering and recycling cell phones. In the European Union (EU), pending directives will require electronics manufacturers to phase out toxic components and take responsibility for waste generated by products marketed in the EU. And forthcoming design guidelines in Japan will result in more long-lasting and recyclable electronic products with fewer toxic components. In the US, no such national commitments have been made.

“Despite the lack of any current or pending federal legislation addressing the end-of-life management of electronics, US government and industry are likely to be influenced by trends abroad,” said Fishbein. “For example, state-level legislation is being considered in California, Massachusetts, and Minnesota that would make producers responsible for paying the costs of managing the waste generated by their electronic products. Additionally, US manufacturers will have to follow the applicable requirements abroad for internationally marketed goods by eliminating toxic substances from these products and funding their take-back. With such changes on the horizon, American industry has even more reason to get ahead of the curve.”
“Cell phones and other wireless electronic devices will inevitably play an increasingly important role in domestic and global communications,” added INFORM Founder Joanna Underwood. “It is time to implement programs to recover them for reuse and recycling in order to avoid contamination of our environment and significant threats to human health.”

The full text of the report is available online at http://www.informinc.org/wirelesswaste.php. For more information, contact Lloyd Hicks, hicks@informinc.org, 212-361-2400 x 244.

 

 
 
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