In order to make mobile phones eco-friendly, Nokia has decided to roll out around 40 new green mobile phone models in the existing year (2008).

The company also plans to make use of biodegradable phone covers and recyclable battery designs, which contain small amounts of potentially toxic materials such as cadmium, lithium, among others.

D Shivakumar, VP and managing director, Nokia India, satted, “We will be using biodegradable phone covers, recyclable battery designs that use less harmful toxic materials and energy efficient accessories for all our forthcoming phones. Already, we have eliminated the use of PVC (polyvinyl chloride) in all our phones.”

In markets like the US, Nokia introduces a pre-addressed, postage-paid envelope in sales packs, which will offer customers a simple means for returning used products for reprocessing without charging any cost to them.

“The consumer simply places the contents in the bag and then puts it in their mailbox. We are evaluating similar refurbishment processes for India, which is the second-largest telecom market,” Mr. Shivakumar added.

Nokia uses biomaterials, such as polylactic acid (PLA) plastics with plant or other biomass-based modifiers that helps in reducing the use of non-renewable materials.

The company also aims to set up the culture of refurbishment or recycling of mobile phone and its components in the Indian market.

Nokia is also investing in green bins across all its priority dealer centers, where the customers can drop their old phones for recycling process.

The company also plans to extend the service across all its centres. Besides this, Nokia also aims to lessen the energy consumed by mobile charger when it is left in a live power socket, by upto 50 percent by 2010.

Previously, it had launched its first eco-friendly phone, the 3110, which is claimed to be more around 65% recyclable.

"The green phones, which we will launch this year, will be introduced across all price ranges," said Shivakumar.

Nokia will also educate customers through its various training and awareness programs on the environmental and recycling issues.