2012-02-02 @ admin
Nokia has indicated its interest in the use of renewable resources (e.g. bio-plastics, waterborne paints). This issue is mentioned in its environmental report. Thus, it places the company in the starting stage at the second level in the maturity model with a score of 3. Nokia has introduced materials made out of renewable resources in some of their new phones and it has also published the materials used in these phones. For example, in year 2008 Nokia brought to the market the latest advance in environmental product design: a mobile device whose covers are made of 50 % renewable materials, thus saving a commensurate amount in fossil fuels. Nokia investigated also packaging and transportation solutions. Over 95 % of Nokia’s total packaging materials are renewable paper-based materials. Nokia has reduced the sizes of the sales packages of all new devices since August 2008. It used 60 % less packaging materials and paper for user guides in February 2008 than it did in February 2006. This resulted in 100,000 tons less paper consumption. Nokia reported that because of the lighter and smaller packaging, 12.000 less trucks were needed to transport its products. For these reasons they upgraded it to the third maturity level of environmental sustainability. To move upward in the maturity level model, Nokia has to set target levels for its renewable resource usage indicators and begin to measure if these target levels have been met.
The use of recycled materials is an important part of a company’s sustainability efforts. We evaluated Nokia at level three. Nokia had examples of the use of recycled materials in their products and packing. In 2008, Nokia introduced a revolutionary sustainable solution in terms of material usage, the “Remade” concept phone which is manufactured entirely without using virgin materials. Instead, the phone is made using materials extracted from old rubber tires, aluminium cans, plastic bottles, and printed circuit boards. Nokia uses recycled materials in its packaging. Once again, Nokia does not have set crisp goals for the use of recycled materials. This hinders it to get high scores on this issue.
Nokia has developed its capabilities to evaluate its environmental impacts. It has introduced structured environmental impact assessment tool – Nokia wide Environmental Management System (EMS) – that is based on ISO 14001. The company wide ISO 14001 certificate includes all Nokia’s production sites. Its new production sites are certified immediately after their commissioning. Nokia has also introduced the EMS to its essential offices and R&D sites which are then verified internally. The following statement on Nokia’s web -page: “At Nokia, our approach is to continuously improve the environmental sustainability of all our products. On our ongoing environmental journey, rather than introducing one-off “eco” devices, we aim to roll out our environmental innovations across our product range. When designing our products, we focus on sustainability throughout the product life cycle: in the materials we use, in energy efficiency, in packaging, and in the software and services that enable people to make more sustainable choices in their daily lives” defines, how comprehensively Nokia wishes to handle the environmental sustainability issue. Nokia has set several environmental targets to its operations, products and services. Furthermore, Nokia gives full material declarations on all of their phones. In this category, Nokia’s maturity level is 4.
Although Nokia is aware of the importance of the use of recycled materials and they try to minimize the use of non-renewable resources, the company does not design its disassembly and recycling operations as part of its product design. Nokia is cognizant of this matter and has taken initial steps to include these operations in its product design phase. Nokia reports that between 65% and 80% of a nokia cellphone is recyclable. However, mostly these phones seem to end-up in the land fill when it becomes obsolete. Nokia seeks qualified recyclers around the world. We awarded two points to Nokia in this category.
Because the RoHS Directive does not allow partial compliance, i.e., the company either complies with or does not, is either complied with or not the company was rated at one or three under this metric. Where the company complies with the directive, it gets three points, otherwise one point. Nokia complies with the RoHS Directive in newly designed products and was rated three. Although RoHS directive is European Union regulation, Nokia has decided, that all its products will comply with the requirement worldwide.
For the third-party certified substance analysis method, we assign three points to companies that use third-party certified laboratory for substance analysis. If the analyses were made by a third party, but the laboratory or the third party used was not certified, we gave two points. We could not find the evidence of Nokia using a third party. Therefore, we awarded one to Nokia in this category.
Nokia has extensively specified and documented its eco-design treatment guidelines. By better product, service and operations design Nokia aims to reach several environmental objectives. It has set targets for energy efficiency for both products and operations and it also conducts factory audits to ensure that target levels will be met. Furthermore Nokia has specified CO2 emission targets for its production. In addition, Nokia has explicitly mentioned that its goal is to improve environmental performance on water consumption, air emissions, ozone-depleting substances, waste management and packaging. However, Nokia does not give specific target values for these issues. Nokia’s efforts in this area deserve a rating of three.
We have tabulated the product eco-design results of Nokia into Table 2 below. Based on the results, we infer that Nokia is well aware of the importance of sustainable product development. Eco-design is a well adopted activity in Nokia to promote sustainability in materials management. To move upward along our maturity model, Nokia needs to specify target values for their eco-design objectives and start to monitor how well these target values are met.
Nokia has an assessment tool, LCA or equivalent, as an integrated part of its product development process and has some eco-design related targets in place for the future. Nokia’s concept of a 100 % virgin material-free phone shows that companies’ capabilities in this area exceed what has been made commercially available.