Nokia Highlights Lack Of Mobile Phone Recycling

Wed, 09 Jul 2008

The majority of mobile phone users across the globe fail to recycle their handsets, according to a new study published by Nokia on Tuesday.

The world's largest mobile phone manufacturer revealed that just 3 per cent of consumers worldwide recycle their old mobile phones, while nearly half are unaware that it is even possible to do so.

According to the survey, which polled some 6,500 people in 13 countries including Finland, Germany, Russia, Nigeria, India, China, Brazil, the US and the UK, consumers around the world have owned an average of five phones in their lifetime, yet only 4 per cent of these devices end up in a landfill.

The vast majority (44 per cent) are simply kept at home and never used, while a quarter of old phones are passed on to friends or family, and 16 per cent are sold on.

Markus Terho, director of environmental affairs at Nokia, said: "It is clear from this survey that when mobile devices finally reach the end of their lives that very few of them are recycled."

"Many people are simply unaware that these old and unused mobiles lying around in drawers can be recycled or how to do this."

He added: "If each of the three billion people globally owning mobiles brought back just one unused device we could save 240,000 tonnes of raw materials and reduce greenhouse gases to the same effect as taking four million cars off the road."

Terho claims that between 65 to 80 per cent of any Nokia devices can be recycled and reused to help make new products such as kitchen kettles, dental fillings and even metal musical instruments, while those that can't be recycled "are burnt to provide energy for the recycling process".

But awareness remains a problem, particularly in emerging markets. The Nokia research found that awareness was lowest in India at 17 per cent and Indonesia at 29 per cent, compared to 80 per cent in the UK and 66 per cent in Finland and Sweden.

Nokia said it is aiming to encourage recycling of unwanted phones, chargers and other mobile accessories through a series of campaigns and activities .

The Finnish company said it has collection points for unwanted mobile devices in 85 countries around the world, with drop-off points at its retail stores and some 5,000 Nokia Care Centers worldwide.

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