ABI 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- 38% of those surveyed claim to have recycled outdated mobile handsets.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.