Distributor updates

Virgin Mobile USA has announced that it will now provide a recycling envelope in every new handset package that it will sell. Cell phone recycling company ReCellular has partnered with Virgin Mobile in order to recycle the phones returned.Virgin Mobile will donate 100% of the profits from this recycling program to charity. With something like 500 million unused phones lying around in the US alone and with the recent compliance legislation passed in California and New York, we are sure to see more initiatives like these by Carriers in the coming months. Again figures for the US show that about 130 million cell phones were "retired" last year. This equates to approximately 65,000 tons of waste, with the assumption that much of the hazardous waste is going into some landfills; we have an environmentally thorny issue here that needs to be addressed by network operators, manufacturers and regulators ASAP!

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