During the last 3 months, Envirofone has collected about 40,000 old mobile phones, according to organizers. The recycling initiative has also collected 23 tons of other electronic waste. Envirofone is a collection scheme for mobile phones and other waste in the nation. It is sponsored by etisalat, a telecom giant, in an attempt to take harmful substances out of communities.
During the UAE National Environment Day on February 4th, etisalat pledged they would give Dh5 million to the initiative, which gave Envirofone a boost. Last year the initiative collected 200,000 mobile phones, as well as 52 tons of electronic waste across the UAE. Besides old mobile phones, many people still keep other gadgets that they don’t use anymore, and they either discard them or recycle them.
Stuart Fleming, the managing director at Enviroserve, the company that oversees Envirofone, said that 3 million mobile phones, at least, could be in consumers’ homes, waiting to be recycled. One person who turned in their old mobiles had 22 that they weren’t using anymore, he continued. It is clear that they are going ahead of efforts last year with more awareness of needing to be socially responsible, Fleming added.
As an incentive to get more people to recycle their old electronics, etisalat is offering rewards every month. Aside from rewards, they are also giving part of the money that they get from the recycled materials to charity. They have installed 450 deposit boxes for mobile phones at key areas in the UAE in order to facilitate this process. Fleming said that accessibility is the key to making recycling the easy option for consumers.
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