Fairphone tackles e-waste with a smartphone we can fix

Do you remember the days when we could repair our broken things? 

Because I’m standing here, looking at a smartphone that has a screen that inexplicably won’t light up, and comparing the price of a new one to the price of a repair (close). 

Then I’m considering the concealed fittings, my personal lack of whatever tools and know-how might be required to repair it, and the warranty that would likely be invalidated by any attempt - and wondering how it’s my job to ensure it doesn’t end up in landfill. 

But the land is already full, and we’re still buying electrics and electronics at pace, with the UN stating that we’re on track to create 120 million tonnes of e-waste per year globally by 2050. And e-waste in landfill is toxic waste - lead, mercury, lithium, plus - that leaks into our land and seeps into our water systems, and makes us sick. So, one way or another, we need to keep our electronics out of the ground by making them last as long as possible. 

But how does that work for businesses that need to sell more products? 

Fairphone is an ideal twenty-first century example of business model innovation – an Amsterdam-based smartphone developer which not only tackles e-waste post-sale, but also the very real human rights concerns of smartphone production pre-sale, through utmost supply chain care and transparency. 

The handset is designed for repair from the outset, making spare parts, training and tutorials easily accessible to customers to ensure as long a lifespan in their hands as possible. If it eventually seems unfixable, it’s sent back for repair or exchange. 

In this continuous loop, known as the Circular Economy, products are no longer intentionally designed to wear out to spark replacement sales.

Instead, products that can’t be repaired or recycled don’t get made in the first place. The repeat sales income is replaced, not lost, swapping to a sales-and-service mix combining contracts, take-back schemes, second-hand sales and, eventually, materials and components recovery and reuse. 

The concept is no flash-in-the-pan: a certified BCorp, Fairphone’s initial €2.5m crowdfunding campaign in 2018 was swiftly followed by €7m of impact investment, paving the way to Europe-wide distribution via 1500 stores and counting, and strategic partnerships with Vodaphone, Orange, Sky Mobile, and many more.

The CEO of Proximus, the largest of Belgium's three mobile telecommunications companies, presented the firm’s new sustainability strategy holding a Fairphone – in smartphone-speak, that’s saying something.

The future of business lies in problem-solving and positive relationships; in businesses that take responsibility for their products and experiences from beginning to… new beginning. 

In return? Added value, reduced costs, resilient infrastructures, diversified revenue streams, new partnerships and customer loyalty - as well as the growing business and investor support that the circular economy has been proven to reveal to those who embrace it.