Mobile phones can now be recycled at Vodafone, 2degrees and Telecom stores across the Bay under a new recycling scheme.
Environment Minister Amy Adams yesterday announced the New Zealand Telecommunications Forum's (TCF) mobile phone recycling programme had received government recognition.
The scheme, known as RE:MOBILE, is the first product stewardship scheme dealing with e-waste was accredited under the Waste Minimisation Act.
RE:MOBILE aims to increase the number of phones collected annually for reuse or recycling to nearly 300,000, reduce the number of mobile phones going to landfill by 2 per cent, and reduce the number of old phones stored at home by 10 per cent by 2020.
Ms Adams said e-waste was a growing issue as New Zealanders increasingly own multiple devices, such as phones, computers and tablets.