Recycling handsets
Since our handset recycling scheme began in 2002 we have recovered over half a million mobile phones.
In 2005/06, we recovered some 335,777* end-of-life handsets thus reaching our target of 150,000.
In addition to collecting redundant handsets we collect handsets through trade-ins, when customers switch to a newer model. These handsets are re-used by O2 employees or business customers, or resold as second-hand items.
In Germany, in response to the European Commission Waste, Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive, mobile handsets can also be returned at local authority collection points.
As people switch or upgrade their mobile phones more often, it is important that we help ensure these handsets do not find their way to landfill – and we believe that our recycling scheme helps achieve the goal to reduce electronic waste.
Still it is increasingly clear that recycling schemes work best when they are associated with relevant social causes. So, we have switched the emphasis within O2.
During the year we:
- Linked with the World Wide Fund For Nature in Germany, donating funds raised from our recycling scheme to the WWF for a nature project by the river Elbe.
- Continued to support the Tree Council for Ireland which plants 15,000 new trees every year.
- Targeted funds from our recycling in the UK to our chosen charity Weston Spirit.
- Donated funds towards a tree-planting scheme in the Isle of Man’s new Hospice for every mobile handset which Manx Telecom customers return for recycling.
To recycle your redundant mobile phone and accessories, bring it to any O2 shop, or post it to us in a recycling bag to:
UK - postal address:
Freepost O2 Recycling (UK)
Germany - postal address:
Freepost O2 Recycling (Germany)
Greener Solutions GmbH
Postfach 900364
81503 München
* This year we have expanded our boundaries for reporting to include all of the companies that undertake recycling on our behalf.
Chris Hall, Managing Director, Manx Telecom, planting a tree at the new Isle of Man Hospice site with John Quinn, Chairman of the Hospice.
For more information visit the following pages in our extensive online resource
Issues in brief
O2 plc
- Mobiles that won't cost the earth
- Our vision for the environment
- Environmental standards
- Our environmental performance
- Climate change
- Electricity from renewable sources
- Transport
- Recycling handsets
- Preserving the landscape
- Co-operation
- Electronic waste
- Ozone depleting gases
- Supply chain initiatives
- Switch it off
