Nokia’s CEO, Olli-Pekka Kallusvuo, has committed the company to drive trends in this area, calling for increased environmental sustainability in the industry. The company announced moves to continue reducing the amount of packaging used and is introducing more efficient phone chargers to its new handset models.It is also committing to include higher percentages of recycled materials in handset manufacture (part of your old car will soon be incorporated as steel casing for new handsets!).This appears to be a result of customer demand as much as general principles of corporate social responsibility.

Quite how the issue of environmental sustainability will be dealt with at next month’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona (MWC)remains to be seen, but signs are that operators will follow Nokia’s lead and begin to raise awareness of the green footprint of mobile usage.

Initiatives like mobile handset recycling are also
likely to take a more prominent role at the MWC, with the GSM Association intent on using the Congress to highlight the benefits of introducing such schemes.