RE:MOBILE is an accredited Product Stewardship Scheme, run by the TCF for the purpose of reducing the environmental impact of unwanted mobile handsets. Participants include mobile network operators and local recycling partners. The Scheme provides an avenue for anyone in New Zealand to donate unwanted mobile handsets and accessories for re-use or recycling.
An additional benefit of the scheme is that it contributes a percentage of profits to charity partner Sustainable Coastlines, providing critical funding for the delivery of the Sustainable Coastlines Love Your Water programme.
In the 2018 Financial Year, 14 per cent of consumers indicated they had recycled a mobile phone and nine per cent indicated they had donated an old mobile phone to charity. In addition, 88 per cent of consumers agreed that recycling unwanted mobile phones helps to save valuable materials from ending up in landfills, and 84 per cent agreed that planting trees alongside waterways restore habitats for native animals, reduce sediment and improves water quality.
With over 450 collection points around New Zealand and a Freepost address for convenient mobile phone donations, 82,842 mobile phones were collected in the 2018 Financial Year, saving over nine tonnes of valuable resources from going to landfill. For the full 2018 Financial Year results, read the RE:MOBILE Annual Report here.
