by Brianna Crandall — June 3, 2011—Sprint Nextel announced the creation of an Electronics Stewardship Policy, reportedly the first in the telecommunications industry, on May 26, the day the company received the Sustainability Leadership Award at the International Electronics Recycling Conference and Expo (IERCE) in Las Vegas. The new policy outlines Sprint’s goals in handling electronic waste, from product design to end of life, and was developed with input from BSR, Basel Action Network and ABI Research.
Sprint is reportedly the only wireless carrier to outline specific commitments that address e-waste holistically by focusing on the full lifecycle of the electronics it buys and sells. Through the new Electronics Stewardship Policy, Sprint commits to design and procure eco-friendly electronics, maximize the equipment’s useful life, boost collection of equipment, maximize reuse of electronics, responsibly recycle electronic scrap, and use environmentally and socially responsible vendors for recycling.
The policy outlines four goals:
- At least 70 percent of Sprint-branded devices should meet the company’s scorecard criteria for environmental design by 2017.
- 100 percent of Sprint’s recycling vendors and remanufacturing partners must meet certification requirements by 2012 and 2013, respectively.
- Sprint intends to collect nine phones for reuse or recycling for every 10 it sells annually by 2017, a 90 percent collection rate. (Sprint has collected more than 24 million mobile phones since 2001.)
- Sprint intends to collect 100 percent of its own annual e-waste for reuse and recycling by 2017.
- 100 percent of Sprint’s recycling vendors and remanufacturing partners must meet certification requirements by 2012 and 2013, respectively.
To learn more about Sprint’s award-winning programs that protect the environment, go to the company’s Corporate Responsibility page.
