Cell Phone Collection Sags: 2005 Rate Drops by 27%

Japan's Telecommunications Carriers Association (TCA) and the Communications and Information Network Association of Japan (CIAJ) announced on June 21, 2005 that the number of mobile phones, including Personal Handyphone System (PHS) units, which were collected for recycling in fiscal 2004 in Japan dropped to 8,528,000, down by 27 percent (3,189,000), from the previous year.

According to the TCA/CIAJ analysis, the reasons for this decrease included not only low public awareness of the need for recycling but also an increased number of people who keep their old cell phones, even after they purchase new phones or after termination of the service contract, because they still can use the advanced, non-telephone functions of the old units.

The survey conducted in FY2004 shows that less than half of all respondents had heard of cell phone/PHS recycling, that 47 percent had purchased new phones or terminated their service contracts within the past year, but that only 24 percent of these had brought their old units back to the shop for recycling. The ratio of those who disposed of old units within the past year drastically decreased from 42 percent to 16 percent. The ratio of those who disposed of old units as waste was 36 percent.

The most popular reasons for keeping old cell phones reflect advances in multiple cell phone functions: 30 percent of respondents kept their old phones as collectors' items or for their sentimental value, 22 percent kept them for the stored phone number lists, 19 percent for data backup, 8 percent for game functions, and 6 percent for digital camera functions. Also as many as 24 percent noted their fear of private information leaks.

http://www.tca.or.jp/index-e.html
http://www.ciaj.or.jp/e.htm

Posted: 2005/10/20 08:21:32 AM
Japanese version