Features

Mobile Companies Begin Work on Improving Environmental Performance

By Priya George

Nokia has unveiled a new industry group that aims to make mobile phones more environmentally friendly. The group also includes Motorola, France Telecom, Vodafone Group, TeliaSonera, and others. The group was created as part of a European Commission pilot project looking at how different industries could work with stakeholder groups to reduce the environmental impact of their products throughout their lifecycle.

The group has agreed upon a series of new initiatives to reduce the environmental impact of mobile phones. These include reducing energy consumption, eliminating the use of specific materials of concern, improving the amount of phones collected through take-back schemes and recycled, and giving consumers more environmental information about products.

Veli Sundbдck, Executive Vice-President Corporate Relations and Responsibility, Nokia, said, "Managing environmental performance is an important responsibility for the entire mobile sector. By working together with environmental groups we have been able to find new ways to make improvements at each stage of a mobile phone's lifecycle, from when it is made right through to how it can be recycled. We are now committed to turning these ideas into action and maintaining a long-term commitment to this issue."

He added, "This project has also created valuable learnings for the Commission on effective policy and approaches to regulation, and we hope they will take these into account in the development of future environmental legislation."

Specific changes and actions the group has agreed to make include:

Energy consumption
Removing materials of concern
Improving the take-back and recycling of mobile phones

Environmental Action Plan

Members of the new group will try to educate people more about how they can reduce the environmental impact of using their cell phones. For example, manufacturers will start displaying a reminder on phones to unplug chargers once the battery is charged. If only 10 percent of phone users did that, they would save enough energy to power 60,000 European homes each year, Nokia estimates.

The companies will also reduce the hazardous materials they use beyond what current legislation requires. One example is Nokia's decision to stop using any components in its phones that contain a certain type of environmentally harmful chemical flame retardant.

The operators will also increase the number of used phones that are returned for recycling. They'll examine existing recycling schemes around the world and identify successful ones. They also plan to try out incentive initiatives to determine if they might improve recycling rates.

Environmental organisations including World Wildlife Fund, the Finnish Environmental Institute, the European Consumers' Organisation and the U.K.'s Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs are also part of the new initiative.
The European Union recently instituted new regulations on the types of hazardous materials that can be included in electronic devices. Most manufacturers were able to alter their products to comply with the new laws but Palm in July stopped shipping what was its latest smart phone, the Treo 650, to Europe because it didn't meet the regulations.

More Informed Consumers

The group has agreed to provide more information and guidance to consumers about the environmental performance of mobile phones, helping them to make more informed purchasing choices. This initiative has begun by researching and understanding the specific information consumers require, and will then make this available on the products and at the point of purchase.

Commenting on the action plan, Matthew Wilkinson, Policy Adviser at WWF International, said, "WWF is pleased to have collaborated with industry on this initiative to try to secure, ahead of regulation, environmental benefits from the mobile phone sector. We will continue our stakeholder involvement in the project, and look forward to the sector delivering on its commitments."

Charlotte Grezo, Vodafone Director for Corporate Responsibility, said, "It is important that the mobile industry continues to provide ways for customers to return unwanted mobile phones. Customer involvement is key to our ongoing success and we are keen to try out innovative incentives in order to recover resources and minimise environmental impact."


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