Go Green with Nokia's New Eco-Friendly Initiatives

Go Green with Nokia's New Eco-Friendly Initiatives

Techtree News Staff, Jun 05, 2009 1601 hrs IST

Learn how you can reduce eWaste, recycle your phone

Today, as you might all be aware, happens to be the World Environment Day. Of late, phone manufacturers around the globe seem to have been bitten by the "eco" bug. If 2008 was the year of announcing eco initiatives, 2009 seems to be the year in which these initiatives are being implemented. A very short time indeed, from the concept stage to actual production. Sony Ericsson amongst other recently launched two eco friendly handsets and it looks like the trend is likely to continue as the year progresses.

Nokia, being the world's largest mobile phone manufacturer has come up with some solid, concrete steps and environment friendly initiatives that are sure to reduce the overall impact on the environment. In January, it started of with its "Take Back and Recycle" initiative. The idea was to provide an outlet to consumers where they can "dispose" off their old, non-working handsets and accessories in a very safe manner - instead of just throwing them away. The best thing about this is that you can give away your non-Nokia phones here as well. Within 45 days of the announcement of this initiative, Nokia managed to collect 3 tonnes of eWaste. That's 3 tonnes saved from going to dumping grounds, or being sent to crude recyclers.

Nokia's approach to tackle the e-waste threat is two-fold. It starts with the production phase. Manufacturing devices using materials that will not adversely affect the environment at the end of its life period solves half the in the first phase. The second part involves initiatives like "Take Back and Recycle" mentioned earlier resulting in the products being disposed of responsibly. Nokia also encourages consumers to recycle their old phones responsibly with the help of periodic awareness programmers and media campaigns. The company has readied over 1300 recycling bins spread across a vast network of Nokia Priority Dealers. The best part is that these bins will take mobile waste of all brands, and not just Nokia.

Other initiatives from the company include the addition of its AC-8 eco charger, which uses just 30mw of power after your phone is completely charged. The charger actually consumes 94 percent less energy when not charging than what the Energy Star requirements specify. Then there is the "we: offset", the world's first CO2 emission offsetting tool to your mobile. Available in 46 languages, "we:offset" can be downloaded into all Nokia S60 phones. It enables people to off-set carbon emissions from their flights against environmental projects. Nokia phones also support the Eco Zone widget on select handsets. This tool provides users with access to green information about environmental organizations, communities, applications and movements at your fingertips.

In May 2007, Nokia started to put alerts into phones encouraging people to unplug their chargers, a first by any manufacturer. Nokia products also come with smaller packaging -- and with almost everything in the package recyclable. In fact, Nokia India website also has a dedicated page that provides users a glance regarding its eco friendly activities. Have a look at it here.

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Go Green with Nokia's New Eco-Friendly Initiatives

Learn how you can reduce eWaste, recycle your phone

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