The briefing we attended at the Sony store in midtown Manhattan last night was something of a mixed blessing. We sat through a slightly overlong introduction to the company's new HDNA campaign, featuring various "rough cuts" of commercials starring Dale Earnhardt Jr., Peyton Manning, and Spider-man, none of whom were actually present, though the Sony exec addressing us made the point of repeatedly referring to a bigwig at Sony Pictures, standing immediately to our right as a "movie star," which leads me to believe that he may have, in fact, been Tobey Maguire in a fake wig and gray beard.

The good news, is that we had a bit of time after the presentation to speak with Mark Small, Sony's VP, Corporate Environment, Safety and Health (pictured), and Michael R. Timpane, the senior project manager of Waste Management Recycle America. The two companies are partnering for the Sony Take Back Recycling Program, which lets consumers bring in all Sony products for free recycling at Waste Management's 75 eCycling centers in the U.S., beginning September 15th.

Within the next year, the number of eCycling centers will be expanded to 150, with locations in every state, and hopefully in the near future, a center within 20 miles of 95 percent of the U.S. population (at present, the Ithaca center is the one in the state of New York, some four hours away from our offices in NYC).

The other good news, is that Sony is making it possible to ship their products to select WM Recycle America locations. Small also spoke to us about plans to possibly offer rebates toward the purchase of new Sony products as incentive to get people to start recycling.