Cricket Introduces National Phone Recycling Program

SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Americans discard approximately 130 million cell phones, less than five percent of which are recycled, totaling about 65,000 tons of waste annually. On this Earth Day 2009, Cricket Communications, Inc, a leading provider of unlimited wireless services, begins a nation-wide handset recycling program. Customers can drop off their unused phones at participating Cricket stores or print a postage-paid shipping label from Cricket’s website (www.mycricket.com/green) and send their phones to the recycling center.

“We at Cricket feel a responsibility to do what we can to help protect our environment and our communities. By making this recycling program simple and convenient we hope customers will partner with Cricket to do something good for the environment and help raise funds for Rebuilding Together.”

“A typical phone contains materials like arsenic, zinc and lead, therefore throwing out old cell phones is not only wasteful, it’s dangerous. These materials can seep into groundwater or even end up in the air we breathe,” said Tim Ostrowski, vice president for Cricket who is leading the company’s environmental efforts. “We at Cricket feel a responsibility to do what we can to help protect our environment and our communities. By making this recycling program simple and convenient we hope customers will partner with Cricket to do something good for the environment and help raise funds for Rebuilding Together.”

A portion of the proceeds from the program will be donated to Rebuilding Together, the nation's leading nonprofit working to preserve affordable homeownership and revitalize communities. Cricket has partnered with Rebuilding Together as a President’s Circle level national sponsor for 2009. Together they are focusing on issues of safety and homeownership among the elderly, the disabled, families with children and those impacted by the rising cost of living and falling social service budgets.

Cricket’s recycling program will be facilitated in conjunction with ReCellular Inc., a leading collector, reseller and recycler of used wireless handsets and accessories. Approximately 50 percent of the cell phones collected by ReCellular are refurbished to near-new condition or otherwise processed for resale. Rebuilt phones are packaged and marketed to users in developing nations of the world where new phones are cost-prohibitive. Products that cannot be rebuilt are disassembled and responsibly recycled. No environmental waste goes to landfills, either directly or through intermediaries, making the process highly effective in reducing or eliminating solid waste. Additional information about ReCellular and its programs can be found at www.recellular.com or www.wirelessrecycling.com.

About Cricket

Cricket is the pioneer of simple and affordable unlimited wireless services with no long-term commitments or credit checks required serving more than four million customers in 32 states. Cricket offers wireless voice and broadband Internet services over the latest technology, high-quality, all-digital 3G CDMA2000 1X and 1xEV-DO wireless network. Cricket’s wireless voice service plans include unlimited anytime minutes, unlimited U.S. long distance, unlimited text and picture messaging, unlimited text to Mexico, unlimited Mobile Web, unlimited directory assistance, as well as a variety of calling features and feature-rich mobile applications such as popular games, ringtones and wallpapers. Cricket Broadband provides unlimited Internet access anywhere within Cricket’s coverage areas at speeds comparable to DSL. For more information on Cricket, visit www.mycricket.com. Cricket is offered by Leap Wireless International, Inc., headquartered in San Diego, Calif. For more information on Leap, visit www.leapwireless.com.

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