Strategy Paper
for Circular
Economy:
Mobile devices
Copyright (c) 2022 GSM AssociationStrategy Paper for Circular Economy 2
The GSMA is a global organisation unifying the mobile
ecosystem to discover, develop and deliver innovation
foundational to positive business environments and societal
change. The GSMA vision is to unlock the full power of
connectivity so that people, industry and society thrive.
Representing mobile operators and organisations across the
mobile ecosystem and adjacent industries, the GSMA delivers for
its members across three broad pillars: Connectivity for Good,
Industry Services and Solutions, and Outreach. This activity
includes advancing policy, tackling today’s biggest societal
challenges, underpinning the technology and interoperability
that make mobile work, and providing the world’s largest
platform to convene the mobile ecosystem at the MWC and
M360 series of events. Learn more at gsma
Tele2’s purpose is to enable a society of unlimited possibilities.
Ever since Tele2 was founded in 1993, we have continued to
challenge prevailing norms and dusty monopolies. Tele2 believes
in unleashing the unlimited opportunities that connectivity
provides to all our customers. Today, our networks enable
mobile and fixed connectivity, telephony, data network services,
TV, streaming and global IoT solutions for millions of customers.
We drive growth through customer satisfaction and smart
combined offerings. Tele2 has operations in Sweden, Estonia,
Latvia and Lithuania. Tele2 has been listed on Nasdaq Stockholm
since 1996. Learn more at tele2
Ethos is a Swedish consultancy focusing solely on corporate
sustainability. Ethos helps businesses of all sizes and
industries with sustainable business development. The team
of experts have competences across all areas of sustainability
(human rights, labour rights, environmental protection and
anticorruption) which are applied to business cases from a
value chain perspective as well as from an interdisciplinary
perspective. Ethos possesses deep understanding of the
necessary interplay between sustainability and long-term
business success. Learn more at ethos.se Strategy Paper for Circular Economy 3
About this report
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. Strategy Paper for Circular Economy 4
Acknowledgments
The GSMA would like to pay special thanks to Tele2 and Ethos
for leading this Project Group, and would also like to thank the
following organisations for their contribution to this strategy
paper and the development of the circular model for devices.
External experts:
Circular Electronics
Partnership
Cisco
Foxway
Green Alliance
Joint Audit Cooperation
Mobile Muster Strategy Paper for Circular Economy Contents 5
Contents
Executive Summary 6
Scope 8
Introduction 9
The value chain of devices 12
Social impacts 15
A circular economy17
Circularity principles 18
Circular economy policies 20
Circularity frameworks and metrics 20
Waste and resource hierarchy 21
Circularity model for devices23
Maximising longevity and zero waste25
Boosting circularity: barriers and opportunities29
Lack of data on end-of-life of devices 30
Consumers want to do more, but need information35
The supply chain for devices is complex 39
Untapped potential in secondary markets 42
Conclusions and recommendations 46
Appendices 48
Appendix 1: The value chain of devices 49
Appendix 3: Circular economy standards and frameworks50
Appendix 4: Jazz customer survey 51