Managing our materials and substances
Nokia is an industry leader in substance management. Our main objective is that we know all the substances in our products, not just those that raise concerns, and that they are safe for people and the environment when used in the proper way.
Nokia is the first mobile phone manufacturer which, in close cooperation with its suppliers, has full material declaration for our mobile devices. This means we can respond swiftly if new concerns arise about substances we use.
Meeting health and environmental regulatory requirements is a basic requirement. It is our practice to use legal compliance not as a mere baseline but as a starting point from which to grow.
We follow the precautionary principle. Where we have reasonable grounds for concern over the possibility of severe or irreversible damage to health or the environment, we believe that lack of full scientific certainty should not be an obstacle to triggering actions to gather and assess additional data. That may lead us to voluntarily take steps, e.g. to substitute substances of concern with safer alternatives, where feasible alternatives are available.
We aspire to go beyond legislation and compliance, and proactively drive the development and efficient use of more sustainable materials. We promote innovative and sustainable material choices, and work on this in close collaboration with our suppliers.
We are actively researching the development and deployment of biomaterials. Biomaterials that are made of renewable natural resources can potentially reduce dependence on fossil fuel based raw materials and thus help minimize global warming, by decreasing CO2 and other greenhouse gas emissions. Our focus is on the development of bio-based materials which do not compete with food industry. We've introduced fully renewable materials in the Nokia 3110 Evolve. 50 percent of the plastics in its cover are bioplastics, made from renewable sources. Since Nokia 3110 Evolve, we have continued to research and implement bio-plastics when those are a viable and optimal solution for a given part and product. We continue our research in this field and aim to broaden our implementation in years to come.
Nokia Substance List (NSL)
The Nokia Substance List identifies substances that we have banned, restricted, or targeted for reduction with the aim of phasing out their use in our products. The list is divided into two sections, Restriction in Force and Monitored Substances. We work together with our suppliers in investigating alternative materials and solutions that will help us fully eliminate restricted or monitored substances from our total product line. The Nokia Substance List will be updated annually. In addition, we will give interim updates on individual substance phase outs as needed in these pages.
See the Substance list in full. (XLS file, 774 KB)
All new Nokia devices are RoHS compliant and free of PVC. Starting from 2010 the list will also include all Brominated and Chlorinated compounds and Antimony Trioxide.
About Brominated and Chlorinated compounds and Antimony Trioxide (rFR) phase out
- As a voluntary action, we are actively working on phasing out all Brominated and Chlorinated compounds and Antimony Trioxide as specified in Nokia NSL requirement and definitions and are making good progress.
- On 4th November 2008 we introduced our first device, Nokia 7100 Supernova, that is free of Brominated compounds, Antimony Trioxide and even free of Chlorinated flame retardants, as specified in the Nokia Substance List
- Since the introduction of Nokia 7100 Supernova, we've launched 10 new products that are free of these substances. List of these devices is available on request.
About other materials & substances phase out
Nokia has banned the use of Beryllium Oxide since 2004 in all new products, and we are actively working to extend the restriction to include all Beryllium compounds in the near future for all new products. Use of Phtalates in our products has been restricted since 2005. The ban includes 8 different Phtalates of which 6 are restricted based on EU regulation.
Working with suppliers on substance management
Our substance management requirements include the need to know, control and manage the material content of the components and parts supplied. We expect our suppliers to integrate environmental considerations in their design procedures and supply chain management.
Our suppliers must record the material content of products supplied to Nokia and make these records available to us on request. We check that they are complying with these requirements and other social and ethical standards through audits and inspections.
If we find a supplier is not complying, we ask them to take corrective action and check this has been done. We work with suppliers to help them make improvements, offering examples of best practice, training and other support. If a supplier were to refuse to address any of these issues we would be prepared to reconsider our business relationship.
We work together with selected suppliers to develop indicators of environmental performance for the components and materials in our devices. Involving suppliers in substance management means we can introduce new environmental requirements quickly.
Nokia Substance management timeline:
From time to time we get questions about certain substances or general principles in our substance management. We are addressing the frequently asked questions here.
About Nickel
All Nokia devices comply with strict global safety and quality standards. We use nickel at levels well within current legal and safety limits. Our policy is that all our new devices are free of nickel on the product surfaces.
Since as early as 2001, we have voluntarily complied with restrictions on the use of nickel as defined in the EU Directive 94/27/EC of 30 June 1994 amending the Directive 76/769/EEC. This directive was originally targeted for products where the materials often are in direct skin contact for longer periods of time, such as jewellery. In the future, the directive will cover mobile devices as well, and we have addressed this requirement in advance.
Over 40 of our recent devices, such as the popular Nokia 5800 XpressMusic and the Supernova series, come without nickel on the surface coatings or any underlayer, giving people with allergies lots of choice. The information about whether a product includes nickel or not can be found in the eco declaration of each individual product.
Some metal alloys used on product surfaces, such as stainless steel, inherently contain nickel, but standardized testing has shown that these do not cause nickel sensitivity in the general population. However, Nokia offers a wide range of models without stainless steel on their surfaces as well.
About RoHS Directive
RoHS stands for “the restriction of the use of certain hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment”. The European Union’s new legislation restricts the use of lead, mercury, cadmium, hexavalent chromium and two flame retardants in all electric and electronics equipment. Although this regulation came into effect on 1 July 2006, Nokia introduced the first RoHS compliant product already in April 2005, over a year before the legislation came into force. Currently all Nokia products are RoHS compliant not only in Europe, but globally.
About REACH regulation
The EU regulation concerning the Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) has been in force since June 1st, 2007. Nokia's basic principle is that the use of chemicals in Nokia products and processes shall be safe to humans and the environment. Within REACH, Nokia has the role and responsibilities of a downstream user. We have assessed the substances and their uses in Nokia products and production operations and we are in active communications with our supply chain regarding REACH and its implementation. Nokia devices and accessories do not contain substances, included in the EU REACH candidate list of "Substances of Very High Concern" (Oct 28,2008), which REACH requires to be reported. However, we voluntarily give information on our substance management in the Nokia Substance List which can be found from this page.
About Tantalum / Coltan
Tantalum, is a derivative of Coltan ore. It is primarily found in Australia, Canada, Brazil, and central Africa, with some additional quantities originating in Southeast Asia and in China. The Democratic Republic of Congo provides a very small amount of the global supply of tantalum - around 1%.
Nokia doesn't purchase Tantalum directly. The material is used in capacitors that we source from suppliers. In a typical Nokia mobile phone, there is usually one tantalum capacitor. This equates to less than 0.03g of tantalum. Tantalum consumption in the mobile phone industry was around 2% of the yearly production.
Suppliers' activities account for a substantial part of the life-cycle environmental impact of Nokia products. Nokia has a comprehensive set of global Nokia Supplier Requirements that include environmental and social issues. To help ensure compliance, trained Nokia personnel conduct regular assessments as part of normal supplier assessment.
Some years ago, when specific concerns were raised about tantalum being illegally mined in the Democratic Republic of Congo we also took the additional action of requiring all of our suppliers NOT to source tantalum material from here. We check this and receive written confirmation from them that this is the case.