Cell phones for environmental protection

Conserve resources with cell phone recycling and promote the NABU project

NABU and the Telefónica Deutschland Group work together on the subject of environmental protection. The mobile communications company - at that time still E-Plus - has been a partner of NABU since 2011. The proceeds will now flow into the NABU insect protection fund.

Good reasons for passing on, repairing and recycling

According to the Bitkom digital association, more than 105 million old cell phones and smartphones are slumbering in German drawers. Throwing used cell phones in the trash or giving them to illegal dealers harms the environment and is also prohibited by law. Too many pollutants get into the environment. Rare raw materials are lost for recycling. Unnecessary raw materials continue to be mined in countries in the global south. For NABU, the focus is on reconditioning and - if necessary - repairing including the replacement of spare parts for mobile devices in order to increase the useful life of a cell phone or smartphone. Extending the service life saves 58 kilograms of CO2 and 14 kilograms of resources.


The disposal partner of Telefónica in Germany, the AfB non-profit GmbH (work for people with disabilities), sells the reconditioned devices only in Europe. NABU gives devices that are no longer functional to Umicore AG & Co. KG for recycling. Umicore operates the most ecological melting plants in Europe and is ISO 9001, 14001 and OHSAS 18001 certified. Recycling NABU cell phones generates raw material profits of up to one kilo of gold annually, not to mention the environmental benefits.

With your returned old device, you ensure more environmental protection in two ways: On the one hand, you ensure that raw materials are recycled and that pollutants do not end up in the garbage. On the other hand, NABU receives an annual contribution from its cooperation partner Telefónica in Germany. This money goes to the NABU insect protection fund.





How does it work?

If you want to hand in your old cell phone through our association, you can either throw it in a box at a bon at our collection points or send it directly to the Recycler AfB free of charge via a DHL branch or DHL Paketbox. NABU maintains more than 440 collection points of its own.


Our locations:


1. Walsroder pet shop, Rudolf-Diesel-Straße 4, 29664 Walsrode


2. Dorfladen Düshorn, Mühlenstraße 2, 29664 Walsrode




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