Nokia has expanded its “Nokia’s Take Back Program” recycling scheme into Lebanon. The scheme already operates 5,000 phone recycling points in 85 countries, and expanded its services to the Middle East last year.
Initially only 8 collection points have been confirmed but lots more “wandering recycling points” are expected to appear in public places very shortly. The scheme will not be extended until general awareness and understanding of mobile phone recycling increases, because it is feared that people will vandalize or steal from the recycling points.
Nokia have found that only 3 percent of people worldwide have recycled their mobile phones, with most not having done so due to lack of awareness about recycling opportunities, particularly in poorer countries. The average life cycle of a mobile phone is only between 6 to 11 months.
Robert Nadra, Nokia’s Levant care manager says: “Up to 240,000 tons of material would be saved if the world’s 3 billion mobile-phone users brought back just one phone. This can be reused to make all kinds of products, anything from kitchen kettles to park benches.”
Nadra explains the benefits of mobile phone recycling: “Up to 80 percent of mobile-phone components can be recycled and the remaining plastic can be incinerated to generate heat for the recycling process, in effect nothing is wasted”.
Nokia says that the recycled parts from the old mobiles in Lebanon will be collected monthly and shipped to recycling plants in Europe. However, this will only be done when there is sufficient quantity to offset the carbon footprint of the shipping.