80% of the climate impact of a mobile phone has happened before it’s taken out of the box. This presents one of the biggest environmental impacts of the mobile industry – what to do with mobile devices? It also presents a great opportunity – to create a circular economy and turn waste into value. 

The GSMA working with a project group of 28 mobile operators from around the globe produced a vision for this circular economy for 2050 to help drive the industry towards a sustainable future. A future where devices have as long a life as possible, where they are made with 100% recyclable and recycled content using 100% renewable energy and where no device ends up as waste. 

This session which took place at MWC Barcelona 2023 covered:

• What it means to have a sustainable mobile device 
• How to move to a more circular economy for devices, where the impacts are minimised 
• How manufacturers, network operators, policymakers and recyclers/ refurbishers can best collaborate to accelerate the transition 
• Data needed for the transition, and data gaps 

Listen to the on-demand audio recording of the session here