Kiwis: recycle your old, unwanted phones
The New Zealand Telecommunications Forum is urging Kiwi consumers to recycle unwanted phones via its recycling scheme RE:MOBILE.
TCF says unwanted mobile phones can be disposed at any of the 180+ collection bins at the retail outfits of 2degrees Mobile, Spark, Vodafone and several other public locations.
"In doing so, you'll be contributing towards charity and doing something positive for the environment," the company says.
Unwanted phones are collated and checked by SwapKit – TCF's appointed recycling partner. Reusable phones are quality assessed, refurbished and then distributed to emerging countries for resale.
Inoperable phones are also collected as part of the RE:MOBILE Scheme with approximately 95% of the components reused.
"The scheme helps to reduce landfill in New Zealand, minimise the number of mobile phones going to waste, reuse phones that can be given a new lease of life, and recycle component parts of phones that can't," explains TCF CEO Geoff Thorn.
"It's an industry initiative led by the TCF in which all the major mobile phone operators work together.
The proceeds go to charity and cover the collection and handling of the mobile devices, Thorn says.
RE:MOBILE received accreditation from the Ministry for the Environment in July 2014. Since then, more than 150,000 mobile phones have been successfully recycled or reused under the scheme, and approximately 18 tonnes of potential harmful substances diverted from landfill.
New Zealanders concerned about what might happen to their old data can learn how to remove this from their mobile devices by visiting www.remobile.org.nz.
