Most consumers know that the increased use of mobile phones is having an environmental impact. Many also know that this can be reduced by responsible mobile phone disposal. The commercial world has seen the opportunity and we now have an explosion in online mobile phone recycling websites. However, if I sell my mobile to one of these websites how do I know that my phone will be recycled properly?
Many phones end up in the developing world for reuse, so the recycling issue is postponed to some indeterminate future date, but when the time comes to recycle, this is where mobile phone manufacturers can minimise environmental damage.
Nokia reject the idea of producing specific “green” phones and have introduced sustainable production methods in various ways:-
- Bio materials – such as biopaints and bioplastics for up to half of the structural plastic parts on recent models. These biomaterials come from vegetable oils instead of crude oil;
- Recycled materials – Nokia are now using recycled metals. Nokia demands three quarters of stainless steel used to be recycled and this rises to 98% for Copper, Nickel and Zinc. They say that all this is done without loss of quality;
- RFR-free – Nokia no longer uses Bromine FRs and all other rFRs and hasn’t used PVC since 2006;
- Low energy – Nokia’s now uses OLED displays, which give the same brightness but use less power. Power-save mode and ambient light sensors also adjust display brightness to save power in the dark. Nokia’s also uses energy efficient chargers;
- Print and packaging – Nokia has moved away from elaborate glossy packaging and user manuals are now electronic.