Sprint has recently pushed out their latest new cell phone called the Samsung Reclaim. They’ve hailed it as “Eco fun for the environmentally conscious.”

The phone boasts 80 percent recyclable materials and a casing that was made with 40 percent bio-plastic materials extracted from corn. However, when I clicked the “get it now” link the information on that page tells me the phone is made from 80 percent recycled materials.

Both ideas, recyclable and recycled, are two very different things. Recyclable means the phone can be discarded in an environmentally friendly way and recycled means the phone is made from parts that once belonged to an older phone. Either way, it’s a forward thinking phone from a forward thinking company.

In addition to recyclable packaging and a one click green button that gives you access to the latest environmental news, the phone comes with all the great basic features associated with a smart phone. It has a full QWERTY keyboard, 2.0 MP camera and is GPS enabled.

Sprint has developed a page devoted to it’s environmental efforts, which include getting 80 percent of it’s power from a local Kansas wind farm.
Sprint has also pledged to increase cell phone recycling on all carriers, models and cell phone types. An idea we are, of course, very fond of.


According to their website, Sprint is the first and only U.S. telecommunications provider to publicly commit to significantly increase phone-recycling efforts. “We’re pledging to collect an amount equal to 90% of what we sell per year by 2017,” they said.

Though the phone is exciting, I would have liked to see a few additional green features added to the mix. Perhaps their eco friendly home page could include information on where to buy refurbished or used phones for the eco conscious who don’t want to create more devices. Sprint also could eliminate the need for a new charger by making the outlet the same as older models and not including new ones in the box.

But overall, it’s nice to know that consumers really do vote with their dollars. Manufacturers are responding by creating products like the Samsung reclaim that can appeal to our environmental consciences, even if they are motivated by the bottom line.