Circularity

At Fairphone, we make electronics that are built to last. We set a new bar with our extra long after-sales support windows for hardware and software. Our devices are unmatched when it comes to repairability and ease of maintenance. We strongly encourage reusing our devices as much as possible, and believe only once a device cannot be repaired at all should it be recycled to recover as many materials as possible. Everyone involved throughout this journey, from the factory worker to the user to the people who handle the recycling, should benefit from fair, circular practices. For us, a circular economy does not only save resources, but also creates opportunities for every person in the loop.

Why do things need to change?

Replacing anything on the average smartphone can be complicated and costly. Buying a new device often becomes the easier option, contributing to one of the world’s fastest-growing waste streams: electronic waste. Only 22% of e-waste is formally recycled, and that’s not counting the five billion plus mobile devices that are lying unused around the world. The remaining often ends up in countries with inadequate recycling infrastructure, resulting in dangerous working conditions, health risks and environmental hazards.

Our approach: The 9 Rs

• Rethink: Fairphone applies a circular design approach for our products—read more here.
• Reduce: We use recycled materials in our products—read more here.
• Reuse: We reuse Fairphone modules collected from users, or harvested through our Reuse and Recycle Program to repair phones in our repair center.
• Repair: Our phones are among the few that can boast perfect repairability scores. You can shop for affordable spare parts right from our webshop, access detailed repair manuals, look up printed circuit board schemes, and so much more!
• Refurbish: We refurbish phones of all kinds, which are returned through our Reuse and Recycle program. Some of the used Fairphone devices that we receive back are restored and sold as New Life Editions in our webshop.
• Repurpose: We collaborate with universities and partners to give new purposes to our older phone models—and to use Fairphone parts for making entirely new products!
• Recycle: We collect and recycle electronic products through our various take back programs. For every product sold as electronic waste neutral, we take back an equivalent amount of e-waste matching the product’s weight.