AT&T Joins EPA in National Cell Phone Recycling Week

AT&T, EPA, Cell Phones for Soldiers, Community Volunteers to Fight E-Waste with Nationwide Campaign Urging Consumers to Recycle Their Cell Phones

Dallas, Texas, It’s not Earth Day yet — is it? Maybe not, but it’s time to recycle wireless phones, according to AT&T* and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Plug-In To eCycling program. AT&T is supporting the EPA’s Plug-In To eCycling National Cell Phone Recycling Week, which runs April 6-12. The project brings together leading cell phone manufacturers and service providers to encourage consumers to recycle used cell phones, Personal Data Assistants (PDAs), cell phone batteries, chargers and other accessories — and to reduce the amount of reusable materials in landfills, especially e-waste. (More information and partner details are available at www.epa.gov/cellphones.)

AT&T offers two simple ways to donate phones: Wireless customers of any carrier can drop off used cell phones and accessories at any of the 2,000-plus AT&T stores across the U.S. Or, they can download free shipping labels from www.att.com/wireless and mail them to Cell Phones for Soldiers (CPFS), a charity that recycles used cell phones and uses the proceeds to buy free phone cards for troops overseas.

The EPA’s call-to-action hits just weeks before AT&T will announce the results of its Earth Day Challenge with CPFS to help the charity double the number of mobile phones it collects — to recycle more than 1.8 million phones — between Earth Day 2008 and Earth Day 2009. Phones recycled through AT&T stores, community drives and online tools have added volume to the broader efforts of the CPFS recycling program, which has now collected more than a million total wireless phones since July 2007.

According to the EPA, more than 100 million cell phones are discarded annually; and, in 2007, only 10 percent were recycled. Recycling or reusing cell phones — which are made up of precious metals, copper and plastics — prevents air and water pollution and reduces greenhouse gas emissions that occur during manufacturing. If every consumer recycled his or her cell phone, the country could save enough energy to power more than 18,500 U.S. homes for one year.

Encouraging cell phone recycling is one way AT&T is working to tackle environmental issues. AT&T recently announced plans to invest up to $565 million as part of a long-term strategy to deploy more than 15,000 alternative-fuel vehicles over the next 10 years. AT&T also works to enhance energy performance and reduce energy consumption and has begun to use alternative energy sources such as wind and solar power. AT&T helps customers further manage their own environmental impact through intelligent use of AT&T products and services, such as teleconferencing, video conferencing and other broadband applications.

For more information about AT&T’s sustainability efforts, please visit www.att.com/sustainability.

*AT&T products and services are provided or offered by subsidiaries and affiliates of AT&T Inc. under the AT&T brand and not by AT&T Inc.

About AT&T
AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) is a premier communications holding company. Its subsidiaries and affiliates, AT&T operating companies, are the providers of AT&T services in the United States and around the world. Among their offerings are the world’s most advanced IP-based business communications services, the nation’s fastest 3G network and the best wireless coverage worldwide, and the nation’s leading high speed Internet access and voice services. In domestic markets, AT&T is known for the directory publishing and advertising sales leadership of its Yellow Pages and YELLOWPAGES.COM organizations, and the AT&T brand is licensed to innovators in such fields as communications equipment. As part of their three-screen integration strategy, AT&T operating companies are expanding their TV entertainment offerings. In 2009, AT&T again ranked No. 1 in the telecommunications industry on FORTUNE® magazine’s list of the World’s Most Admired Companies. Additional information about AT&T Inc. and the products and services provided by AT&T subsidiaries and affiliates is available at http://www.att.com.