Record numbers of sports teams want your mobile phone

(Fornebu, 28 May 2015) More than 400 sports teams across the country are now standing by to ring your doorbell and ask for your used mobile phones. Kjetil Jansrud, who is the ambassador for Norway's largest voluntary environmental campaign, encourages people to let go of their old mobile memories.

Norwegians have almost 10 million old mobile phones lying in their cupboards and drawers. Telenor and the Norwegian Confederation of Sports' Old Phone, New Life mobile collection scheme is a nationwide collection initiative in which Norwegian sports teams are paid 30 kroner for every mobile phone they collect. This is the equivalent of NOK 300 million in potential income for grass roots Norwegian sport. There are now over 400 teams ready to get started.

Find a team near you
You can find a list of all 404 teams included in this year's collection campaign at telenor.no.

'We're delighted that 404 teams have joined - coming from Alta in the north to Lindesnes in the south. I want to encourage everyone to go to the website and see which teams are collecting near you so that you can be ready when they ring your doorbell,' says Berit Svendsen, CEO of Telenor Norway.

Strong mobile emotions
Norwegians have almost 10 million used mobile phones simply lying around. One possible explanation may be that we are quite simply fond of them. In the survey conducted by Norstat on behalf of Telenor, one in two respondents said they really like their mobile phone.
The environmental ambassador for the campaign, alpine skier Kjetil Jansrud, admits even he has feelings for a particular mobile phone.

'At lower secondary school I had a Nokia 3310. It was the holy grail of mobiles - it had snake, I could change covers - at the time it had "everything"! But for Old Phone, New Life to succeed, I and everyone else have to give away our beloved, old mobiles. I realise that it's not easy, but it's good for both the environment and sports clubs,' says Jansrud.

Jansrud is the grand prize
New for this year is that the team that collects the most mobile phones will win a NOK 10,000 prize. All teams that collect more than 300 mobiles will be entered into a draw to win a training session with Kjetil Jansrud.

Last year Manglerud Star collected the most mobile phones, bringing in more than 8000 in total. On average, teams in the campaign collected 272 phones each and received an average of NOK 9000. The Norwegian Confederation of Sports hopes that last year's record will fall in this campaign. 

'Since it launched in 2009, Norwegian teams have collected over half a million mobile phones. This represents in excess of NOK 18 million to sport. I hope everyone will respond positively to sports teams at their door so that we can set a new record together. This will make a difference both to the environment and to club coffers,' says President of the Norwegian Confederation of Sports, Børre Rognlien.

For further information, please contact:
Ana Brodtkorb, Head of Corporate Responsibility at Telenor Norway
Ana.Brodtkorb@Telenor.com, Tel.: 902 09 832