E-waste company eRecycling receives $35M in funding

ERecycling builds start-up around offering credits for old mobile handset devices upon upgrade

E-waste management company eRecyclingCorps (ERC) has secured a $35 million fund ing, led by investors Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers.

ERC launched in 2009, with investments from OpenAir Equity Partners and S.J.F. Ventures, and has since gained Verizon and Sprint as customers for its "instant in-store credit" incentive plan for the recycling of phased out mobile devices.

ERC was founded on the idea of creating opportunities to recycle the 130 million annually discarded mobile devices in the U.S., in a manner that benefits both mobile carriers and customers. Currently only 10% of such mobile devices are recycled, according to estimates by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

The company was founded by former RadioShack CEO David Edmondson, and former Sprint PCS CEO and current Managing Director of OpenAir Equity Partners, Ron LeMay.

ERC works through a Web-based platform that applies credits for old mobile devices toward the sale of new ones at participating carrier retail stores, where 60% of all U.S. wireless devices are sold. The company's website mentions that the average American changes his or her mobile handset every 12-18 months. ERC trades more than 2.5 million every year, since its inception in 2009.

The company complies with EPA guidelines, including the use of "downstream recyclers and processors," and implementing a "zero landfill" policy.

ERC recycles these devices through refurbishment and then offering them for reuse. "We partner with Level 3 and 4 certified device processing, repair and refurbishment operations," says the company on their website. "This ensures not only industry-leading renewal, but also a strict data clearing and privacy approach."

ERC also indicated on their website that recycled mobile devices are reused by "people in developing countries with limited means." Whether those devices are donated or sold in this part of the recycling process, or what the terms of those sales are, is not immediately clear.