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28/12/2006

SCOTTISH GAS LAUNCHES MOBILE PHONE REYCLING SCHEME

Energy provider helps consumers cash in on unused handsets

Scottish Gas is offering a unique way for customers to do their bit for the environment and earn a bit of extra cash - by recycling their old mobile phones. With Christmas costs rising and the average UK household consuming three times more energy in winter than summer, this scheme should help alleviate some of the pressure.

An estimated £150m* will be lying around Britain’s homes this festive holiday period, stuffed at the back of kitchen drawers, hidden in wardrobes, or sitting forgotten in shoeboxes under the bed.

Scottish Gas customers will receive a special envelope in their bills allowing them to send old mobiles off for recycling free of charge. They can check the value of the handsets at wwwtradeinmymobile.com and choose whether they want to receive the money by cheque or bank transfer. A donation of £2 will be made to Save the Children for any mobiles sent with a recyclable value of less than £10. The average mobile phone has a recyclable value of £30, with some models worth up to £100 each. The money donated to Save the Children will enable children to make positive changes to their communities

Neil Cameron, Scottish Gas spokesperson, said: "If you got a new phone for Christmas, don’t just throw the old one in the bin. It will end up in a landfill site causing all sorts of damage to the environment. Recycle your old mobile instead and you could get up to £100 back."

- turning waste into opportunities for children and young people across the UK.

 Last year, 5 million people opened their stockings to find a new mobile phone and this figure is expected to increase this year following news that mobile phones entered children's top ten must-have Christmas presents for the first time.

When handsets are thrown in the bin they end up in landfill sites where the toxic substances they contain can leak into the surrounding soil, polluting the earth and damaging plant and wildlife. There is also trouble at the top of the site where decomposing waste produces methane and carbon dioxide gases which contribute to climate change.

"We’re always looking for ways to help customers save money and take more responsibility for their own personal contribution to climate change. With so many mobile phones languishing in cupboards and drawers, recycling your mobile phone could be worth more than you think - both to you and the environment," continued Neil Cameron.

Scottish Gas is working with mobile recycling experts Redeem plc to allow customers to realise the value of their old phones and give the environment a helping hand. To make money from their old mobiles customers can simply visit: www.tradeinmymobile.com <http://www.tradeinmymobile.com> to check the value of their handset and request a freepost envelope or print a freepost label with which to return their phone; alternatively they can call 08451 466 7146.

* Based on 5 million mobiles being discarded worth an average of £30 each.

-ENDS-

Notes to Editors

·

There are 65.4 million mobile phone subscribers, and, since 2005, more mobile phones than people in the UK.

·

It’s estimated that 90 million mobile phones are languishing in cupboards and drawers around the UK. Placed end to end they would be five times the length of the Great Wall of China.

·

The average value of each unused handset is £30.

·

5 million new mobiles are expected to be purchased this year alone as Christmas presents.

·

Around 1,700 mobile phones are upgraded every hour in the UK.

·

Mobile phones contain numerous substances which need to be disposed of in safe and efficient manner:

- The Cadmium in the battery from a single old phone could seriously contaminate 600,000 litres of water, enough to fill a third of an Olympic-sized swimming pool. Cadmium is being phased out of new batteries.

- Lead - which affects the immune, endocrine and central nervous systems, and causes serious damage to children's brains - is used to solder components to the printed wiring boards.

- Brominated flame retardants, used in wiring boards and plastic cases, have been associated with cancer, liver damage and problems with the neurological, immune and endocrine systems.

- Beryllium, which can cause serious lung damage, is used in contacts and springs and highly toxic dioxins can be emitted if the phones are incinerated in waste plants.

For more information please call Neil Cameron, Scottish Gas Press Office:

Tel: 0131-344 6861; 07979 566244 (24-hr mobile)

For more information on Save the Children please call 07831 650409

Mobile Phone Facts

Where do the phones go?

Redeem plc is an international leader in the recovery, reuse and recycling of mobile phones. Handsets which are in good enough condition for reuse are sold onto refurbishers and distributors who will return them to the consumer stream. They are very often sold in developing countries where the landline infrastructure is scarce and they become an essential means of communication for both business and personal purposes.

 

Those phones which are unable to be resold are sent to an electronics recycling specialist to be end-of-life recycled. Component parts such as chips and circuit boards can be salvaged for resale. Any remaining components are sent to a precious metals recovery facility where precious and base metals are extracted from the electronic scrap using a combined furnace and water separation process. The resulting metal is then segregated and verified using a number of methodologies including atomic absorption testing (every metal having a unique atomic number, and absorbing and refracting a known amount of energy from an energy beam).

How will the money donated to Save the Children be spent?

All money donated to Save the Children will fund Help Yourselves. Help Yourselves aims to support adults and young people working together to make positive changes to their communities. Created by Save the Children and Scottish Gas, the ‘here to HELP’ Awards want to get young people involved in dynamic and lasting community projects. Help Yourselves fund projects and activities that help children and young people who are excluded and isolated as well as those living in noted areas of deprivation.

For more information visit: http://www.helpyourselves.org.uk