O2 Recycle takes charge in e-collection efforts

United Kingdom – More than two million devices have been recycled through the O2 Recycle initiative, reducing emissions by 10 000 tonnes. The UK take-back scheme has gotten so successful that the frequency of mobile electronics recycled saw £51 paid back to consumers every minute in 2015.

A total of 430 000 devices were collected for recycling in 2015. O2 remarks that the ‘most recycled phone over the last 12 months’ credit goes to the iPhone 5S. This device represented almost 15% of all returned gadgets. This trend isn’t unusual; the recycling scheme was launched at businesses and schools back in 2012 and since then more than one million iPhones have been collected for recycling.

‘We’re proud to have reached this landmark figure, with more people than ever recycling their devices with us and becoming the biggest mobile network recycler in Europe,’ comments O2’s head of sustainability marketing Mark McGinn. ‘We’ve helped customers reduce their impact on the environment, and rewarded this positive action by giving them over £135 million in return,’ he adds.

It is also pointed out that the total carbon and water savings equate to 2000 cars being taken off the road and could supply the enough energy to power ten households for 77 years.