Five ways of choosing a more ethical mobile phone

While energy, transport and food are the industries that generate the most carbon emissions, technology is a booming field with an ever-growing impact on the environment. Your mobile phone, small as it may be, is a resource-hungry beast because it contains a whole range of hard-to-get materials and requires a lot of energy to manufacture.

That’s why, here at Ecotalk, we always recommend using a refurbished smartphone rather than purchasing new. This helps ensure that, once made, each phone remains in use for as long as possible, spreading its carbon footprint and preventing demand for a new one to replace it.

If you’re thinking of getting a new phone but aren’t sure what to do, we’ve put together a list of five ways to ensure you make an ethical choice, which suits your needs.

1 – Check out Fairphone

Worn out batteries and broken screens are two of the main reasons why people buy new phones. The way most smartphones are designed, it’s difficult and/or expensive to have these parts replaced. Fairphone set out to make phones differently, and with the Fairphone 5 if the screen breaks or battery life fades, you can order new ones and replace them yourself. You can also replace the USB C charging port if it gets a knock. In total, 11 of its components can be refitted if they fail and the phone itself comes with a five-year warranty. No other phone can match this.

As a company, Fairphone keeps an eye on everything it sources. The energy used on the assembly line is 100% renewable, and 70% of the materials in a phone are recycled (aluminium, tin, rare earth elements, nickel, zinc, copper, magnesium, indium, plastic) and/or ethically sourced (gold, lithium, tungsten). The company also addresses the issue of ewaste by collecting end-of-life electronics in countries around the world and recycling whatever can be recycled. Fairphone pays the living wage and, while things aren’t perfect, it is working on living wage and carbon impact among its suppliers.

Another reason many people give up on a phone is that OS updates outdate the processor, but a Fairphone 5 comes with software support until 2031. You can find out more at the Fairphone website.

2 – Grab a refurbished phone online

Because of the up-front carbon impact of a new mobile phone, at Ecotalk we strongly recommend buying a refurbished phone. It’s cheaper than buying a new phone and helps extend the lifecycle of an already-manufactured device rather than creating demand for a new one – with all the mined metals, plastics and energy requirements that entails.

Consumer awareness of the environmental impact of smartphones is growing, and several companies have sprung up catering to people who want to lower the carbon footprint of their phone. Envirofone now operates in several countries and sells a huge range of phones as well as tablets, laptops, headphones and games consoles. The company will buy your phone from you and sell you a newer one with a 12-month warranty.

Reboxed is another site worth checking out if you’re shopping for a refurbished smartphone. It claims to follow a ‘rehome, rebox, repeat’ business model and aims to sell-on 100 million devices by 2030. It vows to plant five trees for each phone it reboxes, and to offset the lifetime emissions of the device.

There’s a plethora of other places to buy a second-hand phone online from eBay and Facebook Marketplace (be wary) to Amazon and major tech retailers such as Curry’s. You don’t have to buy new – shop around and you can find something that meets your requirements and saves you money. When it arrives pop in your Ecotalk SIM. Simples.

3 – Shop local

If you like to see what you’re getting before purchasing, why not check out some of the mobile repair and second-hand electronics shops in your area? If you’re looking because there’s something wrong with your current phone, they might be able to help you fix it. You can talk to the staff, ask questions and seek advice on what to get when you need to replace your phone.

CeX is a chain that specialises in refurbishing electronics, including smartphones. Its shops are widespread throughout the UK, and it sells online as well. There are also smaller chains like Fone Revive, and other local small businesses that might have what you need and would benefit from your custom. You’ll be able to locate them on Google and check their customer ratings.

As well as seeing what you’re getting and being able to ask for advice, shopping local cuts out the carbon impact of sending in your old phone and having a refurbished one delivered.

4 – Duh!? Get a dumb phone

Want a break from social media? Not interested in streaming? No need for websites? Just want a phone that, you know, does phone things? Then what you need is a dumb phone.

With a dumb phone you can make calls and send texts. By definition, you shouldn’t be able to connect to the internet, but some models do have the facility. From an environmental perspective, the impact is much lower because dumb phones have less of everything. Less memory. Smaller screens. A smaller case. Less electronics. And, therefore, a smaller battery. And they cost a lot less too – £50 to £70 for a typical model.

For pure simplicity, there’s the Nokia 2660 Flip, which does have a basic camera. If music remains essential, the Nokia 5710 Xpress Audio combines an MP3 player, built-in earbuds and breaks the rules with 4G internet. (Both models come with Snake.) Looking more stylish but a lot pricier, the £259 Punkt MP02 is a minimalist phone in a tough, glass-fibre enforced case with a Gorilla Glass screen for durability.

There are plenty of other dumb phones to choose from, though many do up the features and creep into smartphone territory.

5 – Use your smartphone for as long as possible

We always recommend using a refurbished mobile phone instead of buying new, but if you just can’t resist then the best strategy is to buy the best phone you can afford and use it for as long as possible. Choose one with the most up-to-date CPU and a good amount of memory, and your phone will be able to survive the OS updates that are to come. You will also be getting a device with a brand-new battery, so its charge life won’t drop away as soon as you get it home.

Start off by considering a Fairphone 5 (see above). This manufacturer really is doing more than the bigger brands to meet the challenge of sustainable mobile telephony.

However, we understand why people like new Apple, Samsung and Google products and, due to consumer and regulatory pressure, these companies are making moves in the right direction by eliminating plastic from their packaging, transitioning to renewable energy, toughening their products for better longevity and using more recycled materials. For example, Apple says its iPhone 15 Pro batteries contain 100% recycled cobalt.

There will still be a significant carbon impact getting a new phone, but by keeping the same one for as long as possible you can stretch that out over many years.