News Release

NEW YORK - Verizon is presenting an attractive wireless device recycling program to its wholesale customers so their end users can trade old wireless devices and peripherals for cash, credit on new equipment or services, or a donation to the charity of their choice.

Under the program, carriers that resell Verizon services can offer recycling of wireless phones and other mobile devices and peripherals to their retail customers who also purchase wireless services from them.

The program, offered by e-Cycle, an award-winning recycling firm, in cooperation with Verizon Global Wholesale, the wholesale arm of Verizon that services carrier customers, is simple and free of charge. For end-user businesses of all sizes, the program offers a comprehensive solution that provides data security, wireless asset recovery and re-use, environmentally compliant recycling, logistics management, and inventory and appraisal.

Under the program, clients are compensated for wireless equipment that can be resold, and all other devices and accessories are sent to an EPA-certified recycling facility in the U.S.

"Old handsets and smart phones are not always worthless," said Quintin Lew, senior vice president of marketing for Verizon Global Wholesale. "Under this program, clients of our wholesale customers can get cash or credit back which can be used to subsidize discounts on new gear."

"This helps keep hardware out of the landfill and turns it into a customer benefit," he said.

The program is available to Verizon Global Wholesale customers that sell Verizon's Mobility Solutions. These carriers can choose whether to return the value to their customers as cash that they can use to buy new wireless devices, as discounts on new wireless service plans, or as gifts to the charity of the customer's choice.

Verizon warns that wireless devices that are about to be discarded should not be viewed as scrap; they may contain data and applications that should remain confidential. Under the recycling program, corporate and personal data are erased from working equipment or destroyed when broken gear is recycled.