Refurbished Phones: Sustainable Solution for Your Wallet & The Planet
Refurbished Phones. Are you looking for an affordable AND sustainable way to get a new phone?
Well, look no further than refurbished phones – the perfect balance between saving your wallet and saving the planet.
Refurbished phones from ur offer many advantages over buying brand-new items, including:
- Reducing your carbon footprint
- Minimising e-waste
- Giving new life to pre-loved devices
In this article, we’ll look at why sustainability matters when it comes to our mobile devices, as well as how buying a refurbished phone is one of the kindest things you can do for both your wallet and the planet.
Continue reading to find out more about the sustainability of refurbished phones and how you can play your part in reducing your carbon footprint.
What Is Sustainability?
Simply put, sustainability means meeting our needs with what we have already – before exhausting the world’s resources to make something new.
By using sustainable practices and doing this, we help to ensure future generations will be able to meet their own needs.
Sustainability encourages people and businesses to frame decisions in terms of environmental, social, and human impact for the long term rather than on short-term gains.
For instance, if acting sustainably, a refurbished phone company should consider more factors than simply the immediate profit or loss.
Why Does Sustainability Matter?
The world’s resources aren’t endless. If we keep chipping away at them without thinking about the consequences, we’ll be digging a hole we can’t get out of.
In other words, there will be climate change and no way back from the irreversible damage caused by our disregard for the world.
Choosing to change our behaviour to be sustainable means that we’re actively looking at ways to preserve the planet and its resources for the next generation to enjoy.
How Does Producing New Phones Harm the Environment?
The environmental cost of owning a new phone is huge. CO₂ produced by the manufacture of smartphones is predicted to reach 125 megatons in 2020 and by 2040 will account for 14% of all CO2 emissions.
And the fact that the iPhone 12 will create 70kg of CO₂ over its lifetime, exemplifies how the constant manufacture and purchase of new phones and other electronic equipment and gadgets is adding to the rising carbon levels in the atmosphere.
To put that massive volume of CO₂ into context, consider that 120 million mobile phones are purchased every month worldwide.
Those phones are all part of a technology stockpile of e-waste, of which, sadly, only 17.4% is recycled. All of this electronic waste generated during production accounts for an unimaginable amount of e-waste polluting the planet.
How Does Buying Refurbished Phones Help?
Choosing to buy refurbished phones won’t eliminate the problem, but it will help to start turning the tide. Each time a phone is used, recycled or refurbished, that’s one less than ends up in landfill.
In the UK alone, we throw away 1.45 million tonnes of electronic devices as waste each year, enough to fill Wembley Stadium more than six times over. And one of the saddest parts of that story is that there could be a different ending.
So much of what we throw out still has life left in it, if not for the current owner, but for someone else. Choosing to refurbish an existing electronic device means that you’re engaging with a process that can generate up to 77% less CO₂ than it does to make a new one from scratch.
But what about owning the latest phone model?
If you are edging to the front of the queue for the latest iPhone model – with all its promise of new functionality and radical features, there’s something you’re not being told.
The differences between each iteration of the iPhone are minimal, and almost all the software functionality can be downloaded onto older devices with the most up-to-date iOS release.
By opting for refurbished devices like the iPhone 13 Pro or Samsung S22 5G, you’re actually no worse off than if you went for a newer model. In fact, you’re better off because you’ve chosen to save your pennies and your planet.
What is ur doing to support the sustainability benefits of refurbished phones?
At ur we’ve been in the business of saving phones from landfills for years. Re-directing used phones via our UK workshops, so they can be lovingly restored to their former glory by our technical gurus.
But we do more than that. We also make it super easy for you to return ur phone to us when you’ve used it, and we reward you when you do.
What’s more is that by partnering with Ecologi, every time you buy a ur phone, we plant a tree and when you return it, we plant two more.
We pay to plant trees for every ur purchase and trade-in. These leafy do-gooders help take more CO₂ out of the atmosphere and fund a whole host of sustainability projects too.
This makes our sustainability pledge an even greener one. It’s our refurb revolution. And now it’s yours too.
Love it. Use it. Return it.
Get ur Refurbished Phone today
FAQs
Is buying a refurbished phone better for the environment?
Absolutely! Buying a refurbished phone is one of the best things you can do for the environment. All ur refurbished phones are tested and verified to be in good working condition, meaning they don’t end up in landfills polluting our planet.
Not only that, but by buying a refurbished phone, you’re helping reduce the high demand for new phones and the the energy consumption and resources used to create them. It's an eco-friendly choice all around!
What is the environmental impact of refurbished phones?
Refurbished phones can positively impact the environment because they use fewer resources than brand-new products.
Opting to buy a refurbished phone reduces the impact on the environment and the amount of wasted electrical components and cuts down on energy and emissions from manufacturing and the transportation of new products.
In addition, it extends the useful life of electronic products, reducing the need for the production of new items, which requires more energy and can contribute to landfills.
How can I recycle my mobile phone?
Looking for an easy way to recycle your mobile phone and earn cash while helping to save the planet? Ur makes it easy – we guarantee you a fair price, provide free postage, and make same-day payments. Make a difference today and recycle your mobile with ur! Looking for your next device? Consider upgrading to a refurbished phone from ur and join the circular economy today!
