Chinese criticised over failure to recycle old mobile phones
Thursday, April 28, 2011 - 10:06:29
New information suggests that a tiny proportion of the mobile phones which are discarded in China each year are recycled, with a vast majority being sent to landfill or improperly disposed of by users when they upgrade.
Finnish mobile manufacturer Nokia has claimed that only one per cent of old mobile phones in China are properly recycled, according to a report in the Beijing Morning Post.
Nokia's Chen Min explained that an international study of mobile recycling determined China's poor track record and he said that with high levels of hazardous materials contained within used phones, it is dangerous to simply throw them out after they have outlived their usefulness.
To put the figures in context, Nokia said that using the 400 million mobiles which are thrown away carelessly around the world each year, it would be possible to manufacturer one and a half million gold rings.
The typical amount of time that a Chinese mobile user retains their phone for is 15 months, according to local retail boss, Jin Xin. This means that the churn of old handsets is relatively high and as such there is much waste produced by the industry in China, where mobile recycling is still underdeveloped and little understood by the public.
Nokia has been acting to increase mobile recycling in China for the last six years and it has rolled out drop boxes into which people can place their used handsets so that they can be safely restored or sold on. With 300 of China's largest cities featuring a Nokia outlet with a mobile recycling point, it is easier for those living in urban areas to recycle their phones.
Nokia is hoping to expand its recycling initiative and get depositing bins into post offices across China so that more people than ever can get involved.
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