Cell phone recycler ReCellular Inc. has helped launch Venezuela´s first mobile phone recycling program.

The Dexter, Mich.-based firm has partnered with national charity Asociacion Venezolana de Educacion Catolica and wireless phone operator Movilnet, which will support the program through drop-off collection points at its stores.

Venezuela reportedly has 13.6 million wireless subscribers. The RECICL@CEL recycling program will offer more than 1,300 drop-off locations throughout the country. Phones collected through the program will be refurbished or recycled.

ReCellular has collected and resold more than 15 million handsets, many of them in South American markets. The company is committed to establishing recycling programs in every market in which it sells refurbished phones, said Charles Newman, ReCellular president and CEO.

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