Nokia has the Green Light

31Jan08

[This post was published this morning but tonight I come home and poof! Thank you WordPress, my post has disappeared... so it is not as complete as it used to be. Need to move on :) ]

Nokia has been focusing its research on green products, from handset development to shipping, use and End-Of-Life practices.

“Every journey starts with a small step. On the journey to save our planet, each step is vital. We are taking steps and so can you.”

With almost 10 billion customers, Nokia certainly can help make a difference in educating their users, producing energy efficient products in many ways and more.

“Our continuous goal is to set the industry benchmark in environmental performance and seamlessly integrate environmental aspects into our strategic and operative activities. Caring for the environment is everybody’s business.”
Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, President and CEO Nokia Corporation

Educating customers and helping them do the right thing

Power Consumption

“Nokia has set the target to reduce the average no-load consumption of its chargers by 50%, and the no-load consumption of its best-in-class chargers to close to zero, by 2010″. No-load consumption is evidently when your charger is plugged in the power outlet with no phone on the other end. Nokia is also pushing its customers to think about un-plugging their chargers when not in use.

In fact, in 2007, Nokia has launched the first devices with “reminder alerts for consumers to unplug chargers once the battery is recharged”. Nokia has estimated this could save enough electricity to power 85,000 homes a year.

Recycling devices and packaging

Nokia is pushing its customers to recycle their old phones. If you are a Nokia user, click here to find the closest drop off location. Most likely if your phone is pretty new, you should have found a prepaid envelop inside the packaging of your phone. If so, use it to ship your device.

Look below to see how a recycled phone will be broken apart and all its pieces used towards:

Producing Energy Efficient Products

“We feel that today´s business leaders must look beyond economic progress and take responsibility for sustainable development. To be able to meet stakeholder expectations and leverage the opportunities of strong environmental performance, much greater transparency and reporting of sustainability issues will be expected.”
Kirsi Sormunen, Vice President of Environmental Affairs - Nokia Corporation

I love this graph below. Basically it shows each step, from the production of a mobile phone to its consumption bt the consumers and how much waste, non-eco substances, water, energy is used and could potentially be saved. We looked above at the Use and at the EOL (End-Of-Life) practices. We are now going to look at all what’s happening before the product gets into the customers’ hands.

The Making of

The first Nokia building to receive the LEED green certification was in White Plains, NY. For every new building, Nokia is seeking this level of sustainability. This can hopefully help in setting new standards for the industry.

“Management Systems (EMS) at Nokia production sites are ISO 14001 compliant”. Nokia works on the following factors: Energy consumption, Water Consumption, Air emissions, Non-Eco Substances, Waste management and Packaging. Nokia also requires its suppliers to respect a set of guidelines.
Nokia should reduce its overall energy consumption of 6% by 2012 and plans to increase its use of green electricity from 25% to 50% by 2010.

Clean and Recyclable Materials

“The main focus areas during the product planning and design phases are the products’ material substance contents and material and energy efficiency. We continuously analyze the materials used in our products with the aim of reducing the amount of hazardous and harmful substances by utilizing other types of materials, technologies, and solutions.”
Anssi Vanjoki, Executive Vice President and General Manager of Multimedia - Nokia Corporation

Nokia has banned a list of substances that are not environmentally friendly and stopped using this list in the technology they produce. More info here.

Smaller products for smaller packaging, fewer shipping trucks

Nokia has considerably be reducing the amount of material used for their packagings. Smaller phones, smaller packagings, more packages on each truck and therefore less truck on the road.

More green stuff Nokia is working on

The Nokia Eco Sensor Concept. A personal assistant to “monitor your health, environment, and local weather”, powered in part by solar energy.

I want to see more companies that try not only to produce green goods, but also work on increasing the public awereness and its education about green matters.

Filed under: Environment, Let's make the world a cosier place   |  
Tags: chargers, corporate, Environment, Green, Mobile, Nokia, packaging, Phone, Recycle, Technology