Umicore employees donate cell phones and collect trash
World Cleanup Day (WCD) takes place every September. Umicore used this occasion to organize initiatives with numerous employees in September 2022 aimed at conserving resources and protecting the environment.
Trash Cleanup in the Wolfgang Neighborhood
On the afternoon of September 13, 2022, a group of Umicore employees gathered in front of the old powder mill in Hanau-Wolfgang to work together to clean up the area around the mill. In total, they collected 12 bags of trash in 1.5 hours. A successful, yet at the same time alarming result that shows just how far environmental pollution has already progressed.
Cell Phone & Tablet Collection Campaign
From September 19 to 21, 2022, all Umicore employees at the Hanau site were able to drop off their old cell phones and tablets for recycling as part of the “Cell Phone/Tablet Recycling Days.” A total of nearly 40 devices were collected.
To raise awareness of this campaign outside the Industrial Park (IPW), the City of Hanau, in close coordination with Umicore, set up a collection bin on Hanau’s Freiheitsplatz on September 17, 2022, to collect discarded devices from Hanau residents. Thanks to this initiative, an additional nearly 100 devices were collected.
After the collection campaign, the devices were transported to Umicore in Hanau. From there, they are now sent, together with the devices collected internally, to the recycling company AfB in Ettlingen. Depending on their condition, functional devices are refurbished and then sold in AfB’s store or online shop. This reduces the production of new devices, conserves raw materials, and thus also protects the environment. Unusable devices are pre-treated and then transported to Umicore in Hoboken, where they are recycled. This allows valuable metals such as gold, silver, palladium, and platinum to be recovered and used in the production of new products.
Umicore is donating 500 euros to the Hanauer Tafel for the collected devices.
Contact
