TOKYO-The recycling rate for Japanese mobile phones, including PHS units, in fiscal year 2001 was up 5.5 percent on the year to 35.2 percent, according to a survey compiled by the Telecommunications Carriers Association. The recycling rate is quite low compared with other consumer electronics.
As part of its effort to increase the recycling rate, NTT DoCoMo, the country’s largest mobile operator, last month introduced the industry’s first incentive to promote recycling. Such an effort, if other carriers follow the trend, might push up the recycling rate.
TCA explained that the mobile-phone recycling rate is low because end users tend to keep their used mobile phones as memorial goods.
