Davey Winder
Wednesday, 09 July 2008 03:56
Your IT -
Mobility
Page 2 of 3
The truth is that no matter how bad those figures sound
for the UK, it is actually faring better than many other countries. The
real shocker, and I bet you didn't see this coming, is that the UK
actually leads the way as far as global handset recycling is concerned.
Nokia says that more UK respondents claim to
recycle mobile phones than any other country and globally the recycling
average is a shameful 3 percent.
Markus Terho, Director of Environmental Affairs, Markets at Nokia said,
"If all of the three billion people that own mobile phones globally
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. It is clear from this survey that when
mobile devices finally reach the end of their lives that very few 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.
Nokia is working hard to make it easier, providing more information and
expanding our global take-back programmes. By working together, small
individual actions could add up to make a big difference."
One of the reasons for this recycling reticence would appear to be that
people are ignorant of just how much of a handset can be re-purposed.
Nokia claims that up to 80% of any of its devices are recyclable and
precious materials within them can be reused to help make new products
such as kitchen kettles, park benches, dental fillings or even
saxophones!
Mr Terho said "Plastics that can’t be recycled are burnt to provide
energy for the recycling process, and other materials are ground up
into chips and used as construction materials or for building roads. In
this way nothing has to go to landfill."
How can you recycle your handset? Read on to find out...
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