Rotary Bangalore Midtown and Ahimsa, Chennai will plant 10,000 saplings each in Bangalore and Chennai over the next 12 months, as part of Nokia's mobile waste management initiative.
The Nokia Take-Back recycling program was launched in India on January 2009 across the cities of Bangalore, Delhi, Gurgaon and Ludhiana. As a part of the program, Nokia committed to plant a tree sapling for every handset dropped, irrespective of brand or model, into one of its recycling bins. Within the first 45 days of its launch, the collection exceeded 3 tonnes of waste including 10,000 handsets, according to the company. Nokia now intends to extend the campaign to over 15 cities in phases in the next few months. Globally, the Take-Back program has successfully been rolled out in 85 countries.
Ambrish Bakaya, director corporate affairs, Nokia India, said Nokia has taken a holistic approach to environment concerns and works with different stakeholders to drive environmentally-sustainable initiatives. "We believe recycling old products is a key part of this approach and we are fully committed to educating consumers on the need for responsible mobile waste management. Over the next few months, Nokia will extend the Take-Back program to other cities across the country and our partnership with Rotary and Ahimsa will further help us in supporting this cause," Bakaya said.
In India, under the Take-Back program, Nokia has set up a recycling infrastructure across the country with over 1,300 recycling bins installed at Nokia Priority Dealers and Nokia Care Centers nationally. The company encourages mobile phone users to dispose their used handsets and accessories such as chargers and headsets, regardless of the brand, at any of these bins and ensures proper end-of-life treatment for the waste collected.
The company has also launched a SMS campaign to inform customers about the nearest Nokia mobile waste collection point by simply sending an SMS 'Green' to 55555 from their handsets.
As per a Nokia study, if every Nokia user across the world recycled just one unused phone at the end of its life, together it would save nearly 80,000 tonnes of raw materials.
