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ABI Research on handset recycling

Categories: Research
By: , IntoMobile
Tuesday, December 8th, 2009 at 5:16 AM

ABI Research Brief - Green HandsetsABI Research has polled 1,000 U.S. mobile phone users in October of this year to ask them about their attitude toward handset recycling. Here’s the recap of their findings:

  • 38% of those surveyed claim to have recycled outdated mobile handsets.
  • Of those, nearly 70% said they had donated their old handsets to charity organizations and received charitable contribution tax deductions.
  • Fewer than 5% recycled their handsets without receiving compensation of any kind.
  • Of those consumers who had not yet recycled a handset, 98% were prepared to return handsets to an operator’s store, to a charity, to a refurbishing company or to the manufacturer – but only in return for some compensation, either cash, store credit, or tax deduction.
  • Most carriers have some recycling programs on place. For instance, Sprint aims eventually to recycle 90% of the handsets it sells, but so far has only achieved a return rate of about 30%.
  • Women are slightly more likely than men to recycle handsets.
  • Consumers under 40 years of age are significantly less likely to do so than those over 40.

And you can get more details about ABI Research Brief “Green Handsets” from here.

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About The Author

Dusan Belic

Dusan has been using smartphones since their introduction and is now following the latest trends in the industry. The "convergence" is what he's most excited about, and writing about it is the next logical thing to do. He thinks that using a smartphone is what everyone who cares about their time should do. In addition to his interests in mobile phones, Dusan also loves to experiment with the latest web and mobile 2.0 services. The idea of accessing and managing your information from any device no matter where you are simply amazes him. Whether it's an online to-do list, note taking service or a video sharing social network, he's there to try it out. He admits though, he's still searching for the ultimate web-based organizational tool, which "sings" perfectly with the mobile PIM application. Dusan used to run SymbianWatch.com which later became part of IntoMobile. He lives in Serbia, South-East Europe, from where he edits the site on a daily basis.