Telcos up the ante on mobile recycling

MEDIA RELEASE
MONDAY 4 JUNE 2007

Telcos up the ante on mobile recycling

Telecom and Vodafone will put more focus on recycling mobile phones as part of their sustainability programmes and increased customer demand for such services, the telcos said today in a joint statement.

The companies are using World Environment Day to reconfirm their public commitment to mobile recycling, a waste minimisation initiative which is also getting more attention from the Government.

“We estimate there are around a million unused mobiles in New Zealand, probably sitting in people’s drawers or boxes at home,” says Vodafone spokesman Raphael Hilbron.

“The challenge for us is to educate our customers to recycle their unused phones. It’s not just the right thing to do for the environment – someone else in another part of the world could be benefiting from their old phone."

Mr Hilbron said Vodafone had collected approximately 150,000 phones over the past four or five years, saving the phones from landfill and in some cases redistributing the phones to customers in less developed countries.

Phones, batteries, chargers and accessories which are beyond repair are recycled, with many of the plastics used in the manufacture of things like traffic cones, bin liners or buckets. Metals such as copper, platinum, silver and gold are extracted through waste-to-energy processes. Batteries are also specially recycled. These metals are put back to use in items such as jewellery, new batteries, copper pipes, or even back into mobile phones.

Telecom’s Environmental Manager Steve Kerr said the company has been encouraging customers to recycle their phones and accessories since 2001 as part of its sustainable business practices. Telecom began a recycling programme in 2001 and has recycling bins in all its retail stores throughout the country. In the year to date Telecom has collected around 90,000 kg of electronic waste, including mobile phones, chargers and modems.

“When recycling, we encourage people to check that the mobile is disconnected and that the phone memory has been cleared of contacts and that the SIM card has been removed, if it has one.”

“We really want people to look after the environment we all live and work in. One way we can do this is by spreading the word to our family and friends to encourage them to hand in their unused phones,” said Mr Kerr.

Both companies said they will be working on initiatives over the next 12 months to encourage more mobile recycling which could include trade-in deals which they have offered previously.

The telcos have also been working with the Ministry for the Environment on raising awareness of mobile phone recycling.

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