Nokia waters its green strategy

By Leigh-Ann Francis for Nokia

Johannesburg, 10 Sep 2009

There are over three billion cellphone users worldwide and if they each unplugged their charger when it was not in use, it would save enough power to generate electricity for 100 000 homes.

This according to Rory Little, head of customer care and environmental recycling at Nokia SA, speaking at the Nokia environmental round table event held in Sandton, Johannesburg, this week.

Despite this statistic, a Nokia study revealed only 3% of cellphone users aim to recycle their devices, according to Little. With this in mind, Nokia plans to extend its green strategy beyond its own corporate environmental responsibility, towards educating customers on how they can contribute to saving the planet.

The company has initiated a campaign to encourage cellphone users to recycle their old phones. “Nokia has placed 35 collection points across SA where cellphone users can drop off any device, charger or battery, regardless of the cellphone manufacturer, to be recycled according to ISO standards,” states Little. Up to 80% of any Nokia device can be recycled, he adds.

According to company research, the effects of recycling are far-reaching: if each of the three billion cellphone users worldwide recycled just one device, this could save 240 000 tonnes of raw material and reduce gasses to the same extent as taking four million cars off the streets.

Green innovation

Nokia has pledged its support for the industry's move towards universal standard chargers, which will see all cellphone manufacturers using micro-USB connections for cellphone chargers. “Users will essentially have one charger for life. This means cellphones will be shipped without charges, saving on packaging materials and transport space,” states Little.

To illustrate the effect of reducing packaging and making materials more recyclable, the company said it saved almost 100 000 tonnes of paper-based materials and took 12 000 trucks off the road between 2006 and 2008.

Nokia adds that it is working on developing 100% recyclable phones. “While it may be a concept now, we are working towards it being a reality in the future,” offers Little. A 'pop charger' is also in the pipeline, an invention that will cut off the power supply to the charger once the phone is fully charged.