Nokia recycling scheme to expand to 25 cities by Dec

Mobile phone handset maker Nokia plans to extend its handset take-back programme to 25 Indian cities by December this year. The company had introduced the first phase of the programme on January 1 this year through a pilot project covering four cities: Delhi,Gurgaon,Ludhiana and Bangalore

Recycling of used handsets can prevent them from becoming an environmental hazard in the years to come. The take-back initiative launched across 85 countries globally is aimed at driving behavioural changes amongst consumers to make the recycling of old and discarded handsets a habitual action.

As part of the campaign,the company encourages consumers to drop their unwanted mobiles and chargers,irrespective of the brand,into recycling bins placed at any of the Nokia Care centres or Priority dealers in these cities. Over 1,300 such recycling bins have been installed in the country.

The first phase of the campaign was quite successful,with over 3 tonnes of mobile waste including 10,000 handsets collected in the first 45 days. Additionally,Nokia has committed to planting a sapling for each handset collected in these recycling bins.