The pilot will put bins to accept laptops, phones, tablets and peripherals in several AT&T stories. \ Yekatseryna Netuk/Shutterstock
AT&T is looking to give customers another place to recycle old electronics, even those without trade-in value.
A pilot with digital marketplace Recycle Global Exchange and local certified recyclers launched April 1 that will put five or so collection bins in four markets – Seattle, Dallas, Atlanta and Austin, Texas – for four months. It builds on a smaller pilot AT&T did last year.
Charlene Lake, chief sustainability officer at AT&T, said the pilot “helps customers put their old devices back into a circular economy, reducing waste in landfills, freeing up space in junk drawers and avoiding the emissions typically generated by the shipping process.”
The collection bins will accept laptops, phones, tablets and peripherals. RGX connected AT&T with local e-scrap recyclers in each market who will pick up the materials and either remarket them or recycle them.
Roman Smith, director of global environmental sustainability at AT&T, said the company is “focused on making it easier for our retail customers to reduce their environmental impact as we all celebrate Earth Month.”
“Our work with RGX is helping to provide simple, local solutions to a global problem,” he added.
Sean Miles, CEO of RGX, told E-Scrap News that the pilot is a perfect example of what his company does best: making connections and getting more material recycled.
RGX is an online platform that allows customers to submit project requests and then prompts e-scrap recyclers in the geographic area to submit competitive bids to take on the material. It now has over 200 vendors set up in the system, Miles said, with more coming in all the time.
The platform is mainly focused on R2 and e-Stewards certified vendors, he added, but also has options for customers looking to recycle material such as raw steel.