Nokia survey finds that only 3% of people recycle their old cell phones when they purchase a new one.

Nokia released a world-wide survey that found that about 3% of people recycle their mobile phones despite the fact that most have old devices lying around at home that they no longer want.  Three out of every four people added that they don’t even think about recycling their devices and nearly half were unaware that it is even possible to do so.  Nokia’s survey is based on interviews with 6,500 people in 13 countries including Finland, Germany, Italy, Russia, Sweden, UK, United Arab Emirates, USA, Nigeria, India, China, Indonesia and Brazil. Nokia conducted the survey to learn more about consumers’ attitudes and behaviors towards recycling.  Nokia hopes this information will help its take-back programs and efforts to increase recycling rates of unused mobile devices.

The survey found that people on average have each owned around five phones.  Still, only 3% of those responding to the survey said they had recycled an old phone.  Interestingly, only about 4% of the old devices are thrown away into landfills. According to Nokia, 44% of all old phones are kept at homes, but never used.  Some individuals are giving their mobiles another life in different ways, one quarter are passing on their old phones to friends or family, and 16% of people are selling their used devices particularly in emerging markets.

Around the world, Nokia found that 74% of consumers just don’t think about recycling their phones even through about the same percentage think recycling makes a difference to the environment.  Nokia said that its survey found that one of the main reasons why so few people recycle their mobile phones is because they simply don’t know that it is possible to do so.   

Many people interviewed for the survey, even if they were aware that a device could be recycled, did not know how to go about doing this. Two thirds said they did not know how to recycle an unwanted device and 71% were unaware of where to do this.

 Responding to the survey findings Nokia is developing a series of campaigns and activities to give people more information on why, how and where to recycle their old and unwanted devices, chargers and mobile accessories. The company is also expanding its global take-back program by adding many more collection bins and promoting these in store to raise greater awareness.  Nokia currently has collection points for unwanted mobile devices in 85 countries around the world, the largest voluntary scheme in the mobile industry. People can drop off their old devices at Nokia stores and almost 5,000 Nokia Care Centers. To find their nearest take back point people can visit www.nokia.com/werecycle.