Qatar’s Vodaphone Leads Phone and Paper Recycling Program

With a palace for nature, Qatar looks to corporations to help educate about recycling

On Qatar Environment Day in February, the UK mobile phone company Vodaphone launched its program to give back 10% on new phone purchases if their Qatari customers recycle their old phones. In some countries like Canada, new device buyers actually have to pay a fee to offset recycling costs.

Around this time they also launched wind and solar powered base stations to cellular networks that need to be powered off-grid as par of international efforts to go green.

This week, members from the company’s Green Ambassadors program started recycling old company posters and flyers, setting a precedent in a country and industry that has a lot to learn about environmental awareness. The launch was at the company’s store in Mushereib and the material is to be sent to a recycling facility in Doha.

“It was amazing seeing the large white truck from the only paper recycling company in Qatar, coming to pick up our old paper, posters and flyers that will be recycled into blank paper rolls and used in a thousand new ways. The Green Ambassadors are thrilled to know that each small initiative we take plays an important role in protecting Qatar’s environment,” said Ahmed al-Manwari, the Green Ambassadors’ leader in a Gulf Times interview.

The link has since been taken down to the Gulf Times. But it is a great way to get daily news on the Gulf region.

I like seeing how mega multi-national companies take on environmental challenges that rub off in countries in need of more environmental awareness. Vodafone Group plc (LSE: VOD, NASDAQ: VOD) is a British multinational mobile network operator headquartered in Newbury, England.

Let’s hope that companies like Apple will create similar projects to recycle the iPhone and iPod.

Update to 2020 and Vodaphone is already talking about going 100% green.

Author: Karin Kloosterman

Karin Kloosterman is an award-winning journalist, innovation strategist, and founder of Green Prophet, one of the Middle East’s pioneering sustainability platforms. She has ranked in the Top 10 of Verizon innovation competitions, participated in NASA-linked challenges, and spoken worldwide on climate, food security, and future resilience. With an IoT technology patent, features in Canada’s National Post, and leadership inside teams building next-generation agricultural and planetary systems — including Mars-farming concepts — Karin operates at the intersection of storytelling, science, and systems change. She doesn’t report on the future – she helps design it. Reach out directly to [email protected]