Friday, 7 November 2008

The Australian Mobile Telecommunications Association has renewed its commitment to its world-leading recycling program with an ambitious series of targets over the next five years to increase community awareness and participation in MobileMuster, AMTA Chief Executive Officer, Chris Althaus, said today.

AMTA has joined with Environment Ministers across Australia to report annually on its recycling performance against a set of key indicators.

Mr Althaus said the new commitment, known as the Mobile Telecommunications Industry Statement of Commitment to Mobile Phone Recycling, was the next step in achieving the industry’s long-term vision of an environmentally sustainable industry, which minimises the use of resources

Today, the NSW Minister for the Environment and Climate Change, Carmel Tebbutt, is seeking the support of National, State and Territory Environment Ministers to improve therecycling of mobile phones at a Ministerial Council meeting in Adelaide.

“In Australia people tend to upgrade or exchange their mobile phone every 18 to 24 months and an average three out of four people in Australia having at least one old mobile phone at home,” said Ms Tebbutt.

“That’s approximately 16 million old mobile phones lying about in people’s homes or offices. ”Just one tonne of old circuit boards from these discarded phones yields the same amount of precious metals as 110 tonnes of gold ore, 123 tonnes of silver bearing ore and 11 tonnes of copper sulphide ore, so recycling makes a lot of sense,” said Ms Tebbutt.

Mr Althaus said the industry was committed to recycling and was setting ambitious new targets for collecting old mobile phones.

“We want to achieve an annual growth rate of around 25% a year over the next five years,” he said. “This would help Australia to continue to lead the world in mobile phone recycling. However, this is a big task and the industry needs the help of the community to achieve its new goals.

“Getting the support of all the Environment Ministers would be very helpful and we commend NSW for taking the idea forward.

“Instead of storing old phones, we are asking the public to help us to help the environment and return their old mobile phones to any one of the 3 000 mobile recycling bins around the country.”

Mr Althaus said the new targets that AMTA has committed to achieving by 2013 are:

• Increasing the annual collection for the discarded phones to over 65% (currently at 17%)
• Increasing the annual collection rate of net imports to more than 20% (currently at 5.5%)
• Maintaining a recovery rate of the material from the phones returned for recycling of more than 75%
• Decreasing personal storage rate of two or more phones to less than 18% (currently at 32%)
• Decreasing disposal to landfill to less than 2% (currently at 4%)
• Increasing awareness of the scheme to more than 85% (currently 75%)
• Maintaining whole-of-industry participation greater than 90%
• Diversifying collection methods to include free postage paid recycling satchels and kerbside recycling

Minister Tebbutt said that recycling and reusing over 90% of the metals and plastics in mobile phones can help conserve natural resources, avoid greenhouse gas emissions and, as a result protect the environment rather than waste these valuable resources by dumping them in landfills.

”The mobile phone industry in Australia is the only electrical and electronic industry to implement a national voluntary product stewardship scheme for the recovery and recycling of its end of life products.

“NSW has been a key player in helping to negotiate a voluntary agreement from the AMTA, including collection and recycling targets.

“These targets are certainly ambitious but with the sort of commitment from the industry and mobile phone consumers that we have seen to date, completely within our reach,” said Ms Tebbutt.