Nokia has recently launched an initiative to create awareness about mobile handset waste in India. In the 45-days campaign, Nokia collected three tonnes of junk handsets, batteries, chargers and other mobile accessories from four cities. As a part of its initiative, it has placed recycling bins in 1,300 locations from January 1 onwards. This junk will be then taken to Singapore for recycling and make new products. A consumer survey conducted by Nokia across 6,500 respondents in 13 countries highlighted that only three per cent had recycled their old phones and the majority 44% agreed they simply kept it at homes. The awareness level in India was lowest at 17% compared to the UK at 80%.
Nokia is planning to take this initiative to pan-India level. They are also partnering with other handset makers to participate in the campaign. Operators such as Vodafone, Sprint and T Mobile have campaigned to take back used handsets under their corporate social responsibility schemes.