Wales to get Europe's largest mobile recycling facility

In an announcement made today by Excel Fortune Holdings Ltd, it has been confirmed that Europe’s largest mobile phone recycling facility will be established in Wales, UK to service and supply what has until now been a fragmented supply chain.
The company, headed up by telecoms industry veteran Mike Bandeira, has committed GBP6million to the venture with an estimated total start-up investment, including capital turnover, of GBP15million. The project has also been offered funding by the Welsh Assembly Government.
“With Europe currently contributing around 125 million phones per year to a growing stockpile of unused goods, the need to convert them into reusable stock has become increasingly urgent, “commented Mike Bandeira, CEO Excel Fortune Holdings Ltd.
“At our new facilities based in Wales, to be opened in November, we will offer a complete end-to-end solution for the collection, recycle, re-use and distribution of phones that are currently surplus to UK user needs.”
He added, “The service will have a significant impact on the way mobiles are re-used and re-introduced to the market, and as an organisation we also hope to help bring about a behavioural change amongst consumers, regarding the reuse of handsets.”
A 120,000 sq ft facility will become Excel’s European logistics hub and company headquarters and will have the capacity to handle up to 500,000 mobile handsets per month, once fully operational.
95% of the handsets collected in the UK will be recycled and then sold to developing countries such as China, India, Pakistan, Dubai and Bolivia. Excel currently has contracts in place in each of these countries, to supply phones at 60% of the cost of a new phone.
Via a targeted campaign of TV advertising, direct marketing, dealer involvement and a direct sales force, phone owners will be encouraged to send their unused handsets in for recycling. There will be a payment for old handsets according to the age and condition of the phones or the cash can be donated to a charity of choice.
With premises already established by Excel in Shenzhen, China, which carries out the refurbishment and repair of around 2 million handsets per year, the demand for unused phones continues to grow.
Recruitment has already started in earnest to complete the first phase of set-up which will mean 150 initial jobs for the region.