eRecyclingCorps Surpasses 20 Million Collected Devices

eRecyclingCorps (eRC) and its joint ventures have surpassed 20 million devices collected since 2009, including 10 million devices in 2013 alone.

The company, founded in 2009, says increasing operator and retailer involvement and updated projections are driving the market.

The trade-in market potential is largely untapped, but increasing awareness of incentivized trades is encouraging. The company says the consumer saves money, the operator improves customer retention, satisfaction and increases revenue via greater data usage all while reducing the environmental impact of discarded devices.

eRC says carriers and OEMs now realize the benefits of incentivized trade-in programs. Those programs started in the US and are now spreading to Europe and Asia.

In 2013 approximately one billion phones were retired, according to Gartner’s Market Trend. eRC estimates that those billion phones equate to more than $100 billion in untapped value potential of e-waste.

Ninety-five percent of the 20 million phones eRC has collected to date have been returned to use as affordable restored devices the company says.

Photo: Mosman Council Flickr photostream