Tuesday 8 September, 2026
The Better Connections Plan is Virgin Media O2’s ESG strategy which covers four key pillars including the circular economy. Within this circular economy pillar, there is a public commitment to support consumers to make 10 million circular actions by the end of 2025 to tackle electronic waste. This includes sending back old kit, sustainably recycling devices, donating smartphones and growing demand for pre-owned devices.
Hot on the heels of its ‘Time after Time’ e-waste report with environmental charity, Hubbub, Virgin Media O2 jointly carried out a three-month programme to speak to Gen Z about e-waste via influencers. With 48% of young people never having recycled a phone and 38% admitting to disposing of an old device in general waste, this work was designed to get people to think.
Virgin Media O2 took a new approach to how it engaged this audience, working with four influencers whose specialisms were second-hand items, accessible science, making humour out of everyday behaviour and showing refurbished as a sensible choice. Hubbub helped to identify influencers and develop the script.
The language was accessible, the films were short and leaned heavily on humour as a tool. A giant interactive model phone was also placed in student accommodation at universities across the UK, with a tool for students to pledge to reduce their e-waste and two ‘hackathon’ events where they ideated innovative solutions to the e-waste problem.
Collaborating with influencers got the message to the target audience, generating 1.4m views, with over 3k shares and saves across TikTok.
Examples of the collaboration:
