Telenor launches mobile recycling programme
Oslo-based telecommunications firm Telenor has announced a new mobile phone buyback/recycling programme that will also support a Red Cross tree-planting effort in Asia.
With a goal of collecting 70,000 mobile phones, Telenor hopes to enable the planting of nearly 1.8 million trees — 25 for each phone — in Asia this year.
“Of the phones collected, those damaged will be recycled,” said Ragnar Kårhus, head of Telenor in Norway. “Those that can be repaired will be sold in Asia which is a well-functioning market for used goods. Proceeds from the sales will be given to the Red Cross. This gives the mobile phone a ‘safe death’ or a longer life-span in other markets.”
Telenor estimates there are at least four million mobile phones lying around unused in Norwegian households. Further, only 12 percent of consumers now recycle their mobile phones, even though they replace them on average of once every two years.
Kårhus said Telenor will introduce a similar recycling scheme in both Sweden and Pakistan this year.
While many consumers remain unaware that mobile phones can in fact be recycled, such efforts offer tremendous environmental benefits. According to Telenor, if every one of the world’s three billion mobile users would recycle one phone, the result would be 270,000 tonnes of raw materials saved each year and a reduction in greenhouse gases equal to removing four million cars from the road.
