UK to get chance to Flipswap

A US company that believes it has devised the most efficient way to keep mobile phones out of landfill has revealed that it is heading for the UK next year.

Flipswap, which says it provides the more money to consumers who trade in their phones than rival phone reuse and recycling firms, has recently received $14m (£9m) in venture funding and will use part of that money to open for business in the UK and Europe.

Chief executive Sohrob Farudi told BusinessGreen.com that the company is partnering with "a company with vast experience in the European wireless industry" to support the expansion plans.

"We have a boatload of opportunities in the US and Canada that we have yet to tackle, so that will be our first order of business," he added. "But we plan on expanding to Europe and specifically the UK sometime in mid-2009."

Since it opened for business in 2005, Flipswap has bought more than 740,000 phones and has sold on the vast majority to customers around the world. The remainder is recycled for their materials.

Farudi said there are a couple of aspects to the company's business model that give it a leg up over competitors in the recycling business.

He argued that firstly Flipswap's proprietary pricing algorithm gives the company a unique view of the secondary market for wireless handsets. "This allows us to provide consumers with a high value for their used handset, because our software knows the exact place around the globe we can sell the handset for the highest price," he explained. "We make money by collecting and reselling the phones so they can be used a second time."

Secondly, he said that Flipswap gives customers the option to either send phones to the company in the mail, postage paid, and then they, or an elected charity, will receive a cheque in the mail, or go to a local store, which has become a Flipswap partner, and receive in-store credit.

"Because we span both brick-and-mortar and online direct to consumer, we are in a unique position to use both channels to provide consumers and retailers with a solution and value proposition that none of our competitors can offer," he said.

The company has also sought to further bolster its green credentials by pledging to customers that it will plant a tree for every mobile phone it receives that does not have a resale value and has to be broken up.