Recycling

Product TakeBack and treatment


Sony Ericsson recognizes the importance of product ‘take-back’ and recycling. We believe in the concept of taking responsibility for our own products and offering our own solutions, as well as cooperating with the industry, when our products reach the end of life. The most important objective for Sony Ericsson is to provide easy choices for consumers by providing locations and information about recycling.

Sony Ericsson also supports initiatives which bring about legislation that suitably address this matter. In many places around the world, we are happy to participate in the process of putting such legislation in place. For information on how to recycle in your location, please visit www.sonyericsson.com/recycle/

GreenHeart™

GreenHeart™ is the result of years of innovation to bring you phones that offer you a greener choice. Sony Ericsson announced the Sony Ericsson GreenHeart™ portfolio, which introduces green innovations that reduce the overall environmental impact of the phone without compromising on style or features. The C901 GreenHeart™ is made from a minimum of 50% recycled plastics from water bottles and CDs. To learn more about our GreenHeart™ products, please visit www.sonyericsson.com/GreenHeart

Global Environmental Warranty

To support the 'Individual Producer Responsibility’ (IPR), Sony Ericsson launched the Global Environmental Warranty in 2008, and started to roll out global TakeBack collection points around the world, especially where no collection systems were present. This means that we guarantee that all phones provided to our designated collection points will be recycled in an environmentally sound way. At these collection points, Sony Ericsson seeks to optimize the amount of materials that can reasonably be re-used or recycled. The remaining materials will be disposed of in an environmentally conscious manner in accordance with applicable laws and regulations. This warranty is valid globally, regardless of where the product was originally purchased. For updated TakeBack information for your location, please visit www.sonyericsson.com/recycle/

For the press release on the Global Environmental Warranty, please see Sustainability press release

Our commitment

In the global TakeBack program, our goal is to collect:

• 1 million phones annually in our own system before the end of 2011

Our system complements existing systems in many places where industry and charities already collect higher volumes. Measuring is a major challenge for us since discarded mobile phones are mixed with other small electronics and IT equipment. Also, mobile phones are part of collections for refurbishment and reuse that do not report collection numbers.

WEEE compliant

The European Union (EU) directive on waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) has been in force since August 2005. Sony Ericsson is fully compliant with the national legislation resulting from this directive. Sony Ericsson is a paying subscriber to the WEEE program in all countries where we are allowed to register.

Sony Ericsson has joined many collection and recycling systems for end of life electrical and electronic products. One of our partners is the European Recycling Platform (ERP). Established by Braun GmbH, Electrolux AB, Hewlett Packard and Sony in December 2002, ERP aims to create the most efficient pan-European collection and recycling scheme for consumers, industry and the environment.

Collaboration

Sony Ericsson believes that the collection and recycling system used must be efficient and effective. We develop and participate in common industry-wide systems in many countries around the world since that is often a more effective way of minimizing the environmental impact of collection and recycling.

Also, we have engaged in the Basel Convention Mobile Phone Partnership Initiative (MPPI) supported by the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP). With this initiative, we have developed guidance documents for design, collection, refurbishment, recycling and trans-border movement of products for re-use. We also believe that regulations shall not prevent alternative ways of setting up a system for best efficiency and environmental performance.