It turns out that millions of mobile phone users, including those who use the Smartphone, may not be so smart. Or, maybe it’s better to say that they may be smart, just unaware of how easy it is to recycle their old mobile phones. Not only is it easy, it’s important. According to the much touted Nokia study recently published, a mere 3% of mobile users donate or recycle their old phones. The Finnish mobile phone company surveyed 6,500 people and made the disconcerting discovery that most people don’t even think about recycling their old phones. So what happens to them? They end up in a drawer or worse - a landfill. There were 4% of users who donated their old handsets to family or friends or resold them. Emerging markets and underdeveloped countries are excellent sources for old phones - and yes, you can get paid. Getting paid while keeping phones out of landfill seems like a pretty good idea.
Hopefully the heightened awareness regarding mobile phone recycling will help. While one phone may not seem like it would make much of a difference, you’d be surprised. Nokia estimates that if each one of the 3 billion mobile phone owners recycled one, the result would be the collection of 240,000 tonnes of raw materials that could be reused and remanufactured into other products, thereby preserving other resources. In addition, the carbon emissions eliminated by reuse of those raw materials would be “the equivalent of taking 4 million cars off the road,” Nokia said.
“It’s an opportunity for us to work with people to raise that number,” said Nokia spokeswoman Susan Allsopp.
For more information, visit. Nokia.com
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