Nokia’s INK wins GSMA’s inaugural Green Mobile Award

Integrated Nokia Kiosk initiative in Malaysia recognised at the Asia Mobile Awards 2008

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – Nokia Malaysia’s “Integrated Nokia Kiosk” (INK) has received the inaugural “Green Mobile Award” at the GSM Association’s (GSMA) Asia Mobile Awards 2008 held in Macau recently. The award recognizes mobile industry resources and initiatives in the region aimed at promoting low carbon economies, industry and lifestyles, such as improved energy efficiency, alternative energy sources, recycling, conservation and eco-friendly consumption.

The INK is a first-of-its-kind kiosk that provides consumers a really simple way to recycle their old mobile phones & accessories as well as for Nokia customers to get their Nokia devices serviced. The initiative was launched in Malaysia earlier this year with four kiosks placed in high-traffic shopping malls for a six-month pilot phase.

“This award is a fantastic recognition of the potential of the Integrated Nokia Kiosk and Nokia’s ongoing commitment to the environment. Today, up to 80% of any Nokia device can be recycled, saving precious raw materials that can be used again. However, a recent study by Nokia earlier this year showed only 3% of people actually recycled their old mobile phones,” said Francis Cheong, Nokia’s Environmental Affairs Manager, South East Asia Pacific.

“Thus, we believe the INK is one way we can make it easier for people to recycle their used and unwanted mobiles. Working together with consumers we can make a big difference for the environment.”

Nokia has been at the forefront of driving environmental initiatives in the mobile industry for more than a decade and countries within the organization are encouraged to submit ideas to drive these initiatives. The INK initiative was conceptualised by the Nokia Malaysia team and Malaysia was also the first country to launch the automated recycling kiosk.

Using the INK is kept really simple; all customers need to do is follow the instructions on the touch screen and drop their devices accordingly. The automated process at the INK to ensure speedy processing and better security for devices deposited into the kiosk. To ensure maximum efficiency, the Kiosk will send an automated notification everytime it detects a phone drop and these devices are collected and sent to authorised recycling centres.

As an incentive to consumers, for each mobile phone sent in for recycling, Nokia is giving away a tree in the consumer’s name via the Nokia NewTrees Program (a collaboration project with WWF Indonesia and Equinox Publishing whereby Nokia has committed funds towards planting of 100,000 trees in Sebangau National Park in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia). The consumer will receive a unique URL and instructions to view their tree through Google Earth.

“Nokia Malaysia is honoured with this award and the role we have played in introducing this innovation into the market. Since we began the pilot phase in July, we have received tremendous response from the public that goes beyond our expectations. In just five months, we’ve collected and recycled more than 1,200 cell-phones via the INK initiative. Clearly, this initiative is working and we plan to further expand the programme,” said Vlasta Berka, General Manager, Nokia Malaysia.

Judged by independent analysts, journalists and industry experts, the Asia Mobile Awards attracted entries from more than 100 companies that serve world leading Asian mobile market with a wealth of commercially available products, services, content and applications. The last year alone has seen more than 400 million new mobile connections added in the region, taking the total to more than 1.4 billion.