Nokia gives back following music festival

10 November 2010

Following the success of the Rocking the Daisies and Rocking the Gardens music festivals which were held at the beginning of October  in Darling and Emmerentia respectively Nokia will be planting trees in both provinces to ‘give back’ to the environment.

During both festivals, Nokia ran a recycling campaign to collect old and unused devices and accessories, of any make or model, for safe recycling.  As part of the initiative, Nokia committed to plant one tree for every 20 devices collected during the campaign. “During the festivals, we had a good response and a number of people donated their old devices and accessories for recycling,” says Tania Steenkamp, communications manager for Nokia South Africa. “In keeping with our commitment made prior to the festivals we will be purchasing and planting trees in both regions to assist in reducing the carbon footprint created by such an event.”

According to Nokia over 250 devices and accessories, of various makes and models, were donated between the two festivals resulting in Nokia committing to planting 20 trees between the two regions. “The trees which will be planted will also have GEOtags and those people who donated their devices and accessories will each receive a certificate with their trees’ location as a reminder of their contribution to our environment,” says Steenkamp.

Over the past eight months Nokia has collected and safely recycled over 500 devices and accessories through such campaigns. “Recycling is something that we are passionate about and we have set up collection points throughout the country where people can take their old and unused devices of any make or model for safe recycling,” says Steenkamp.

“We have taken a decision to more than double the number of trees, so we won’t just be planting 20 trees in Gauteng and 5 in the Western Cape but rather 250 and 100 respectively.  The Rocking the Gardens attendees collected four times the amount of devices as the Rocking the Daisies attendees which is why Gauteng is getting more trees,” says Steenkamp.

Nokia will be planting the trees in various locations in the two provinces in conjunction with Food & Trees for Africa.  In Johannesburg, Ebomini Primary School and Forte High School will be getting 60 trees each; Progress Day Care Centre and Setjhaba Day Care Centre both in Soweto will get 50 trees each and the remaining 30 trees will be planted at Naledi Ya Meso. In the Western Cape, Sizamile Educational Centre will receive 50 trees and the John Pama Primary School in Guguletho will receive 40 trees.

For a full list of collection points and to join the conversation visit NokiaConnect   

For more information on Nokia’s worldwide recycling initiatives visit Nokia’s WeRecycle page

Visit our YouTube Channel for all the videos which formed a part of this drive

For more information on Food and Trees for Africa visit http://www.trees.co.za/

• Category: Environment/Sustainable Business
• Tags: nokia, take-back, trees, geotag, foodandtreesforafrica, recycling_campaign, rockingthegardens, rockingthedaisies