By Natasha Lomas, 9 July 2008 13:08
NEWS
Just one in 10 people in the UK recycle their old mobile phones.
Past-it handsets are not necessarily ending up in the wheelie bin - they are more likely to be languishing in the nation's attics or gathering dust in old shoe boxes under the bed, according to a survey.
Mobile users have owned around five phones on average. And while only nine per cent of Brits recycle these old phones, it's not all bad news as just three per cent of dud devices end up in landfill. The majority (48 per cent) are kept at home, unwanted and never used. But a fair bit of reusing goes on too: almost a fifth (19 per cent) of devices are passed on to friends or family, and eight per cent are resold.
When it comes to recycling, the UK does well in the global picture - with more UK respondents claiming to recycle their mobiles than any other country. However, just three per cent of the 6,500 people surveyed said they recycle their unwanted devices, and close to half weren't even aware a mobile phone could be recycled.
The Nokia-commissioned survey also found nearly a fifth of Brits are unaware recycling old mobiles is possible, while nearly half do not know how to go about recycling their old handset.
Yet a simple Google search reveals a plethora of options for recycling old mobiles - including websites offering cash back and environmental charities that will take your old phones. Nokia will also take in any mobile phone at the Nokia store on Regent Street in London.
Markus Terho, director of environmental affairs, markets at Nokia, said in a statement: "If all of the three billion people that own mobile phones globally brought back just one unused device we could save 240,000 tonnes of raw materials and reduce greenhouse gases to the same effect as taking four million cars off the road."
The survey is based on responses from people in 13 countries: Brazil, China, Finland, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Nigeria, Russia, Sweden, UK, United Arab Emirates and USA.
Comments
There are 4 comments. Join the discussion
1. Karen Challinor
my first was an analogue one and was retired to a drawer when the buttons started to fail
my partner has my second phone as theirs was an analogue model which stopped working when the signal was turned off
and I'm still using my third
I've been on contract for about 20 years now
the two defunct phones will be recycled now I know where to look, thank you
if it works it doesn't get replaced
2. anonymous
We sold nine old phones and got £200 back. Google 'recycle phones' and check 3 or 4 websites as each gives different prices for different model phones. We ended up using 3 suppliers with cheques arriving within a couple of days. Very easy.
3. Jock Smith
I think, one of the reasons for people not recycling their old phones is, they are not sure how to make their phones safe and clear any information, ( addresses, and data. ) I have at least 4 old phones and this is my reason.
If I Could get help with this In would be glad to recycle.
4. Mike Anderson
The figures seem to be very disappointing but I guess the amount of mobile phone recyclers would have gone up with more mobile phone recycling companies coming up and setting up user friendly websites in UK