The last year or two have not been kind to General Motors, but the same can't be said for the GM of the cell phone recycling world - ReCellular.
The Dexter-based firm is still recycling millions upon millions of cell phones, refurbishing them for a second life and keeping their toxic chemical innards out of landfills and water tables. The company recycled in excess of 5 million cell phones last year and looks to exceed that number again this year.
"We created this industry and we have remained on top," says Mike Newman, vice president of marketing for ReCellular. "Even though a vast majority of cell phones that are retired are left in someone's drawer and forgotten. We're trying to get them to recycle them."
It is accomplishing that by reaching out directly to customers to recycle their phones. Before ReCellular relied on other businesses to collect them through donation drives. This year it has premiered SecureTradeIn.com, which offers cash for old cell phones.
ReCellular refurbishes many of those phones and then sells them on the open market. Sometimes they end up in North American markets and sometimes they end up in other markets in the Third World.
"We're selling more phones then we have ever sold before," Newman says.
That has forced the company to reconfigure its Dexter manufacturing space to accommodate at least one year of growth. Today the company employs several hundred people at its Dexter facilities. It has held its employee count steady over the last year and expects to next year, too, as the company focuses on creating efficiency and maximizing profits.
Source: Mike Newman, vice president of marketing for ReCellular
Writer: Jon Zemke
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