Easy being green? Not if you make mobile handsets
It’s all the consumer’s fault (green mobile phone consciousness is only just warming up)
Despite mobile handset vendors’ eco-friendly efforts, consumers‘ usage patterns still negatively affect the environment, says Heavy Reading Mobile Networks Insider
NEW YORK, June 1 /PRNewswire/ –Makers of mobile handsets are stepping up their efforts to develop and sell products that are more environmentally friendly, but consumer usage patterns continue to have a negative impact on handset makers’ green initiatives, according to the latest report from Heavy Reading Mobile Networks Insider (www.heavyreading.com/mobile-networks).
Mobile Handsets: It’s Not Easy Being Green details and analyzes the current state of “green mobility” and the efforts that have been made to date by manufacturers, industry trade groups, and regulators to make mobile communications more environmentally friendly. It profiles seven handset makers that have undertaken the eco-friendly charge and examines the extent of their environmental policies, including an analysis of their green handset products.
For a list of companies analyzed in this report, please see:
http://img.lightreading.com/uni/pdf/mni0510_companies.pdf
While the green mobile handset segment remains a small percentage of the mobile phone marketplace, some handset OEMs have become more aggressive in adding green mobile handsets to their portfolios
User habits are the biggest obstacle to making mobile handsets a more eco-friendly sector: Aileen Arcilla, research analyst with Heavy Reading Mobile Networks Insider and author of the report.
“Characteristics of green handsets include use of recycled materials, reduced use of toxic materials such as lead and polyvinyl chlorides, and availability of more energy efficient battery chargers, as well as chargers driven by alternative energy sources such as solar cells.”
But user habits are the biggest obstacle to making mobile handsets a more eco-friendly sector, says Aileen Arcilla, research analyst with Heavy Reading Mobile Networks Insider and author of the report.
“Discarding of still-usable handsets and failure to properly dispose of or recycle handsets are potentially significant contributors to environmental problems,” she says. “With the number of mobile subscriptions expected to exceed 5 billion over the next few years, the biohazards of handset disposal are likely to grow.”
Key findings of Mobile Handsets: It’s Not Easy Being Green include:
- Efforts to make mobile communications more eco-friendly have emerged, primarily touting a handset lifecycle approach.
- The green mobile handset segment is growing, but it will be difficult to track as a separate segment of the worldwide handset market.
- Adoption of eco-friendly handsets will vary regionally, alongside differing handset feature priorities, consumer attitudes, business models, and governmental policies.
- Initiatives at the OEM level have primarily encouraged the development of green mobile handsets and will drive consumer adoption.
- Consumers must play a huge role in ensuring that the environmental impact of mobile phone consumption is minimized.
“But user habits are the biggest obstacle to making mobile handsets a more eco-friendly sector, says Aileen Arcilla, research analyst with Heavy Reading Mobile Networks Insider and author of the report.”
Are really user habits the main obstacle here? What about the prices for eco-friendly electronics, can those be called user-friendly in any way?
This article gives a nice insight into this matter:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/7785705/Green-goods-cost-nearly-50-more.html
“Green premiums remain highest on health and beauty (220%), household products (76%) and electricals (45%) when compared to the price of standard goods. […] The report said the price of green products remained the main barrier to mass consumer uptake.”
Seems like the prices are an important factor when it comes to popularity of eco-friendly products. And what about the range of mobiles that are available to customers interested in such products? Check websites of most popular mobile brands, and you will get the answer pretty quick. Not too many models to choose from.
“Makers of mobile handsets are stepping up their efforts to develop and sell products that are more environmentally friendly, but consumer usage patterns continue to have a negative impact on handset makers’ green initiatives”
Are these Mobile manufactures really interested in changing the consumer usage patterns? If yes, than why these mobile manufacturers are not educating customers for the proper disposal of mobile handsets through Campaigns besides encouraging them towards adopting eco-friendly mobiles?
T-Mobile Czech Republic collected more than 20,000 used cell phones during a three-month campaign in early 2008.
http://www.deutschetelekom.com/dtag/cms/content/dt/en/585018
For many years now, Telenor Group has recycled mobile phones and batteries through campaigns in Norway, Serbia, Hungary and Sweden, collecting hundreds of thousands handsets.
http://www.telenor.com/en/corporate-responsibility/initiatives-worldwide/mobile-recycling-programmes-in-Telenor-Group
This proves that consumers are wise enough to adopt proper habits of recycling and disposing of mobile handset if and only if proper campaigns are carried out.
In countries without a strong tradition of recycling, the number of intact phones returned is likely to be small unless there is substantial investment in awareness raising and infrastructure.
Read the Mobile company initiatives to encourage consumers to increase handset recycling. However, lots more need to be done.
http://www.gsmworld.com/our-work/mobile_planet/mobile_environment/4250.htm
One can also get more information related to the current company programs and provides a link to information about where you can drop off or return your wireless devices for proper recycling
http://www.recyclewirelessphones.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=collection_sites.main
“It is Not Easy Being Green is “Efforts to make mobile communications more eco-friendly have emerged, primarily touting a handset lifecycle approach”"
Is there any example of OEM’s adopting lifecycle approach in producing handsets to support their commitment toward environment?
The article at http://www.sonyericsson.com/cws/corporate/company/sustainability/overview discusses how how Sony Ericsson looks at life cycle approach in production of handsets.
Here is another interesting piece that discusses Nokia’s vision for green handset production:
http://ec.europa.eu/environment/etap/inaction/pdfs/sept07_itw_nokia.pdf
I wonder what else they are doing to improve consumers’ behaviour towards usage and disposal of handsets to support environment friendly initiatives?
If prices are an important factor when buying eco-friendly products, then we need to find eco-friendly phones that are available to the budget consumer.
I found a website with a list of budget mobile phones that claims,
“The budget cell phones on this list, which cost around $50 or less, can be purchased at various carriers including AT&T, Virgin Mobile, T-Mobile and Sprint.”
http://cellphones.about.com/od/cellphonereviews/tp/bestbudgetcellphones.htm
It would be interesting to look at the phones on this list to see which are the most eco-friendly in terms of charging?
@ Debbie Todd’s comment:
“It would be interesting to look at the phones on this list to see which are the most eco-friendly in terms of charging?”
Seems only 2 of the mobiles from the list are pure, eco-friendly devices. What is quite obvious – one look on them and you got the idea why ‘green’ budget mobiles are not too popular. Many people want to have their eco-friendly devices being ‘green’, but also look good.
After some research, I have found this site, listing top 5 eco-friendly mobiles:
http://asia.cnet.com/reviews/mobilephones/0,39050603,62062771,00.htm
What was even more interesting, this list of 8 most eco-friendly mobiles from popular manufacturer, Nokia:
http://www.environmentteam.com/2010/04/07/8-most-eco-friendly-nokia-mobile-phones/
Although, people need to “[…]keep in mind that out of 8 phones we describe here, only 2 are currently available in the market, others still remain as concept phones.”
Some of those designs are really innovative and cool looking, hopefully at least half of them will move from concept stage to production? The question is – if and when?