Nokia: Only 3% of people recycle their mobile phones

Nokia surveyed 6,500 people in 13 countries — including Finland, Germany, Italy, Russia, Sweden, UK, United Arab Emirates, USA, Nigeria, India, China, Indonesia and Brazil — to find out people's attitudes and behaviors towards recycling.

The findings highlight that despite the fact that people on average have each owned around five phones, very few of these are being recycled once they are no longer used.

Here are the highlights:

• Only 3% said they had recycled their old phone!
• However, only 4% of old devices are being thrown into landfill. 44% are being kept at homes never used, while others are either passed to friends or family (25%) or sold (16%).
• 74% of people surveyed said they don't think about recycling their phones, while about the same number of consumers (72%) think recycling makes a difference to the environment.
• Half of those surveyed didn't know phones could be recycled, with awareness lowest in India at 17% and Indonesia at 29%, and highest in the UK at 80% and 66% in Finland and Sweden.
• Two thirds said they did not know how to recycle their old phone and 71% were unaware of where to do this.

Responding to the survey findings Nokia is developing a series of campaigns and activities to give people more information on recycling. More information about Nokia's program is available from here.