Dive Brief:
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Sims Recycling Solutions has launched "Zombie Phone," an online cell phone buyback program.
Consumers can sell their unwanted cell phones on a website created by Sims, who will then process the phones at the company's West Chicago facility and are then resold or dismantled and recycled.
Customers receive an offer online after providing information to the site. Sims gives sellers envelopes and shipping labels in order to send the phone to the plant. Sims will later determine if phones are stolen, lost or blocked, and erase any remaining data.
Dive Insight:
The president of Sims Recycling, Steve Skurnac, said that "of the 141 million mobile devices available for recycling, only 11.7 million were collected." Can this program encourage greater numbers or are people too reluctant to trust companies to delete personal data? Or is there another reason such a small percentage of phones are recycled?