Thousands of us will have unwrapped new mobile phones this Christmas but what will we do with our old phones? The number of unused handsets in Britain today is creating a huge mobile phone mountain according to research released by The Carphone Warehouse. Mobile LifeI research has found that 37% of people simply hold onto but don’t use their old mobiles while 2.6 million people throw their unused handsets away. This means there are approximately 25 million redundant handsets in peoples’ homes gathering dust, whose batteries and components could be recycled for productive use and even raise money for worthy causes.
Government priorities, media attention and the publication of the Stern ReportII have put green issues firmly into the public spotlight and more than ever, people are wanting to recycle more and reduce their carbon footprint.
This New Year, The Carphone Warehouse has made recycling an easy resolution to keep. Simply take any unused handsets to any one of their stores or send it freepost using a recycling envelope also available in store. Every handset received will be forwarded to a recycling company who will re-use the components and materials, and will donate £10 per handset, to be shared between the charities TreeHouse and Get Connected. Since April The Carphone Warehouse has raised £100,000 through recycling and would like to multiply that this New Year.
Chief Executive, Charles Dunstone said: “I am very concerned about climate change. We are at a tipping point and everyone needs to be educated into how to help. One thing we can all do, is make a New Year’s Resolution to recycle our unused or unwanted mobiles. If we managed to recycle just 1% of our mobile phone mountain, we could raise £2.5 million for charity”.
The Carphone Warehouse support and contact centres recycle all paper, toner cartridges and cardboard. The Carphone Warehouse is also aiming to make all emissions from delivery vehicles, company cares and infrastructure ‘carbon neutral’. A process whereby emission levels are calculated and then an appropriate number of trees are planted to help compensate for the damage
