Only 3% of people recycle their mobile phones despite the fact that most have old devices lying around at home that they no longer want, according to a global consumer survey released by Nokia. Three out of every four people added that they don’t even think about recycling their devices and nearly half were unaware that it is even possible to do so.
The survey, based on interviews with 6,500 people in 13 countries was conducted to help Nokia find out more about consumers’ attitudes and behaviors towards recycling, and inform the company’s take-back programs and efforts to increase recycling rates of unused mobile devices.
It is in this regard, Nokia, in collaboration with the residency of Meteorology & Environment, is rolling out the Take Back Program in Saudi Arabia to provide the community with the necessary information and to raise awareness on the opportunity to recycle old mobile devices and accessories.
Hani Ghibeh, Care Manager, at Nokia Saudi Arabia and Yemen, 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. Nokia is working hard to make it easier, providing more information and expanding our global take-back programs.
“If each of the three billion people globally owning mobiles brought back just one unused device we could save 240,000 tones of raw materials and reduce greenhouse gases to the same effect as taking four million cars off the road. By working together, small individual actions could add up to make a big difference,” Ghibeh added.
Dr.Sameer Ghazi, The President Deputy for Environmental Affairs, Presidency of Meteorology & Environment in Saudi Arabia (PME) stated, “We encourage the Civil societies and the private sectors to adopt unique environmental initiatives by highlighting the important role that they can take in the Kingdom and the region to overcome the local and regional environmental challenges and rise above the difficulties facing the world in the fields of energy and the environment conservation. Also, the intensification of environmental control is to achieve sustainable development and guide a partnership between all sectors and activate the environmental studies including climate change issues into a national plan that is consistent with sustainable economic growth to raise efficiency of environmental performance”.
Nokia has collection points for unwanted mobile devices in 85 countries around the world, the largest voluntary scheme in the mobile industry. “We are proud to launch today our take-back initiative in Saudi Arabia. Consumers can drop their old and unwanted devices, chargers and mobile accessories in the recycling bins available at our Nokia Care Centres all over the Kingdom. This is the first step of our program and we are currently exploring opportunities to establish more take back points in the Kingdom,” concluded Ghibeh.
The findings highlight that despite the fact that people on average around the world have each owned around five phones; very few of these are being recycled once they are no longer used. Only 3% said they had recycled their old phone. Yet very few old devices, only 4%, are being thrown into landfill. Instead the majority, 44%, are simply being kept at homes and never used. Others are giving their mobiles another life in different ways with one quarter of people passing on their old phones to friends or family, and 16% selling their used devices particularly in emerging markets. Up to 80 per cent of a Nokia device can be recycled and using the best recycling technology nothing is wasted. Precious materials within it can be reused to help make new products such as kitchen kettles, park benches, dental fillings or even saxophones and other metal musical instruments. Plastic covers and parts 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. People can drop off their old devices at Nokia’s Care centers and Nokia Branded stores across the Kingdom.
