Strategy Paper for Circular Economy: Mobile devices - GSMA - Nov 2022

A sustainable future for mobile devices requires a ‘zero waste’ supply chain and longer-lasting smartphones

2nd November 2022, London: In the lead-up to COP27, the GSMA has published a new, long-term vision for how the mobile industry can increase the circularity of its supply and production chains for mobile devices.

The GSMA’s Strategy Paper for Circular Economy: Mobile Devices lays out the following vision for the industry:

Devices with as long a lifetime as possible,
made with 100% recyclable and recycled content,
100% renewable energy,
and where no device ends up as waste

Example of materials in a mobile phone:

An example of materials in a mobile phone
Source: GSMA

Sustainability challenges can only be addressed at a systemic level, and this is why the GSMA is proud to play a role in helping the mobile industry become more sustainable.

In 2016, the mobile industry was the first industry to commit fully to the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and, in 2019, the GSMA Board set a climate ambition on behalf of the industry to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2050 at the latest.

Earlier this year, the GSMA published its first Strategy Paper on the Circular Economy, which focussed on how network equipment can evolve towards more circular business models.

Continuing the exploration of circularity, this paper looks at the largest environmental impact of the mobile industry – mobile devices.

The paper has been developed with Ethos, a Swedish management consultancy specialising in sustainability, in collaboration with Tele2, as the Project Group lead, and Project Group members from the GSMA.

Source (and Download paper):