Eleven Million Phones this Christmas

Tesco Mobile, the mobile phone service of the giant supermarket chain has carried out some research and found that around 11 million people are expecting to have a new phone in the run up to Christmas this year. Great for mobile phone companies but the worrying side effect is that 20% of people are expected to simply throw their old phone away!!

Why? Well, it seems we don’t really know how to recycle them so throwing them away is an easy alternative! To try and help a little Tesco have a mobile recycling service where you can earn cash, vouchers, green club points or donate money to charity. Even if your phone won’t switch on they will still give money to charity.

Full details can be found at www.tesco.com

Greener Phones? Well the bits which come with them anyway

There are a lot of them about - mobile phones that is - and they have a significant impact on our resources through manufacturing and when they are no longer needed.

Nokia, who have launched various ‘eco’ products over the years, are now getting rid of the charger which comes with their N79 phone if you buy it online.

The thinking is that you probably have one or two chargers left over from previous phones and could use one of them instead of receiving a new one. This cuts down on production and use of raw materials, packaging and eventual problems with disposal. Makes you wonder if it might encourage you to only buy a new Nokia so that your old charge fits.

They will also donate £4.00 to the global conservation organisation, WWF. The phone is expensive as it needs to be bought as a stand alone handset (not on a contract which is often cheaper).

If you want to declutter your life and already have a Nokia charger - then this might be for you.

While you are at it - go and hunt down your old phone and send it for recycling to Envirophone - they can pay you up to £100 if it is a relatively current model!



[ Via shinyshiny ]

Bad Mobile Phone Recycling Figures

Shockingly, only 3% of mobile phones are recycled, reports phone manufacturer Nokia. They carried out a global study of 6,500 people in 13 countries and found that nearly half didn’t even know you could recycle your old mobile!

The research showed that on average each person has owned 5 mobile phones and 1 in 20 of these is thrown away in normal household rubbish! That is a lot of nasty electronic chemical waste going into land fill and, eventually leaking back out again!

"If each of the three billion people globally owning mobiles brought back just one unused device we could save 240,000 tonnes of raw materials and reduce greenhouse gases to the same effect as taking 4 million cars off the road. By working together, small individual actions could add up to make a big difference," said Markus Terho, Director of Environmental Affairs, Markets, at Nokia.

You can do your bit now by clicking on the ‘Envirofone’ link on the right of the page. We have teamed up with them so that they will recycle your old phone for free and, even pay you for certain phones. Have a look in the back of draws, find those old phones, turn them into cash and help keep toxic waste out of landfill.

[Via TechDigest ]

Renewable Mobile Phone Charging

This week (27th June), the Glastonbury festival opens, attracting masses of enthusiastic music lovers to the Vale of Avalon, here in the UK. All of them have mobile phones, most of them will want to be texting their mates to tell them what they are missing.

To make sure everyone stays connected to the ‘outside’ world, phone network Orange is providing a solar and wind powered charging tent. It will generate enough electricity to charge 100 mobile phones an hour. Any surplus is to be stored in a battery tank.

Orange had something like this last year but the 2008 version is larger and still only a test for more powerful charging stations, which could be deployed at other, massive, out in the middle of know where, gatherings.

More details at: www.rechargepod.com

Eco Friendly Mobile

There are millions of mobile phones in use and they have a massive environmental impact through their manufacture and disposal - all those nasty chemicals seeping into landfill.

Enter Nokia with the 3110 Evolve, their most eco friendly phone to date which has just been released onto the marked.


The phone’s cover is made from around 50% recycled plastic. The packaging has been reduced and uses 60% recycled content. The included charger appears to be very efficient and is said to use 94% less energy than the published Energy Star requirements. It also switches itself off once the phone is charged which means a real reduction in energy consumption. How many of us leave our phones on charge overnight?

The phone has a 1.3 megapixel camera, MP3 player and all the bits and pieces you would expect from a modern mobile so you can stay ahead of the technology and be a little eco friendly at the same time!

For more details about the phone visit Nokia or watch a video review on Techdigest.

If you are replacing your mobile phone why not get paid for recycling the old one? The EcoList has teamed up with Envirofone to help you do just that. Check your make of phone on their website, send it to them for recycling and they will pay you (dependent on the age and make) for doing it. Even if your phone has been down the back of a sofa for years and is so old that it no longer has any value, they will still recycle it for free. Visit Envirofone

Switch off your appliances

Appliances, such as TVs and computers, continue to use electricity when they’re on standby, so it’s best to turn off all your electrical devices when you’re not using them. And make sure you unplug your mobile phone charger when it’s not in use as it continues to convert energy whilst still plugged in. If we all made sure we turned our appliances off when we’re not using them we’d save a massive amount of electricity each year – the equivalent of around two power stations’ worth per annum


More from the "Top Ten List to create a greener home" on the Maplin's Solar Week website