1Thinking the Transition

Study on circular economy approaches for mobile phones and consumer trends

Vasileios Rizos, Head of Sustainable Resources and Circular Economy, CEPS

Brussels, European Consumer Day 2019

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Structure of the presentation

1. Introduction of CEPS

2. Consumer electronics

3. Why mobile phones/smartphones?

4. Circular value chain

5. Consumer trends

6. Objective/timeline of study

7. Scenarios

• Independent European think tank based in Brussels, founded in1983

• Objectives:o Policy-oriented researcho Forum for discussion

• Strong in-house research capacity and an extensive network ofpartner institutes throughout the world

• Extensive portfolio of work in the circular economy field:o CIRC4Life: Circular economy business models in the

electronics and food value chains o CICERONE: Platform for circular economy funding and

programming in the EUo CEPS is a Knowledge Partner of the Green Growth

Knowledge Platform

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• Product category characterised by high sales volumes, and including a wide range of products, such as mobile phones, tablets, disposable digital cameras, headphones

• Sector as a whole represents 1% of final household expenditure in Europe

• More than 1.1 million people were employed in the manufacture of computer, electronic and optical products in the EU in 2015

Consumer electronics

Sources: Eurostat (2018a; 2018b)

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Why mobile phones/smartphones?

• Currently two thirds of European citizens own a smartphone

• Smartphones have replaced feature phones but also various other small electronics (calculators, voice recorders, MP3 players)

• Smartphone ownership is very high among young people; recent study concluded that in Belgium smartphone adoption is over 90% among younger age groups (18-34 year olds)

• Contribution to e-waste o Europe has the highest recycling rate of e-waste globally, with 35%

being recycled

o Still, we generate the second highest amount of e-waste, totalling16.6kg per inhabitant

o Difficult to estimate the specific contribution of mobile phones; experts estimate that around 5-15% of mobile phones are globally collected for recycling/refurbishment

Sources: Thomas (2015); Raimondi (2013); Watson et al. (2017); Interviews with experts

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Circular value chain

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Consumer trends

Hibernated (unused) phones

• A key challenge relates to the collection gap, i.e. phones left in drawers and homes and never collectedo Estimates in some member states: between 28 and 125 million

mobile phones in the UK; 135 million in Germany; 2.3 million in Belgium

o Study on UK higher education students: around 3.8 million hibernated phones

• Reasons for people keeping their old devices o Emotional attachment

o Concerns about the privacy of the data stored in the phone

o Perceived fragility of current phones

Sources: Wilson et al. (2017); Recupel (2018); Green Alliance (2015); Bitkom (2018)

Consumer trends

Reused/refurbished phones

• Study concluded that in 11 EU member states around 15% of phones were given or sold to family or friends

• Surveys in Germany and the US have concluded that around two/thirds of phones enjoy a second life

The practice of reusing phones already takes place in Europe to some extent

• Still, while a market for refurbished mobile phones already exists, it is still far from reaching widespread acceptanceo Barrier: Refurbished mobile phones are often perceived as having

lower quality

Sources: Watson et al. (2017); Wigginton et al. (2017)

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Objective/timeline of study for the European Economic and Social Committee

• Provide quantitative estimates about the impact of circular economy approaches

• Study will use scenarios based on assumptions representing different circular economy options and levels of ambition

• Assumptions and evidence are collected through literature review and interviews with experts from the value chain

• Currently the team is finalising the scenarios; study to be completed by end of June

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Scenarios

NEW PHONES SOLD – MATERIAL RECOVERY

Variables Lower bound Upper bound

Recycling rate 12% 65%

NEW PHONES SOLD – EMISSIONS

Variables Lower bound Upper bound

Expected average lifetime 21.6 months 27 months

HIBERNATING PHONES

Indicator Lower bound Upper bound Max

Recycling rate 12% 65% 100%

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ReferencesBitcom (2018), ‘’124 Millionen Alt-Handys liegen ungenutzt herum‘‘, accessible at: https://tinyurl.com/y4nub6u9.

Eurostat (2018a), “Price level index for household final consumption expenditure (EU-28=100)”, 2017, accessible at: https://tinyurl.com/y7xf2wdm.

Eurostat (2018b), “Annual detailed enterprise statistics for industry (NACE Rev. 2, B-E)”, last updated 22.10.2018.

Green Alliance (2015), ‘’A Circular economy for smart devices – Opportunities in the US, UK and India’’.

Raimondi, S. (2013), “Tracking mobile phone recycling rate to improve them”, CORDIS, European Commission, accessible at: https://cordis.europa.eu/news/rcn/135849_en.html.

Recupel (2018), ‘’Your old smartphone is worth saving... for a second life or recycling!’’.

Thomas, D. (2015), ”Samsung and Microsoft mobile sales in Europe hit by Apple devices”, Financial Times.

Watson, D. et al. (2017), “Circular Business Models in the Mobile Phone Industry”, Nordic Council of Ministers, pp. 27-28.

Wigginton, C., Curran, M. and Brodeur, C. (2017), Global mobile consumer trends, 2nd edition Mobile continues its global reach into all aspects of consumers’ lives, Deloitte, p. 5.

Wilson, G.T. et al. (2017), ‘’The hibernating mobile phone: Dead storage as a barrier to efficient electronic waste recovery’’, Waste Management, Vol. 60, pp. 521-533.

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- THANK YOU! -Vasileios Rizos

vasileios.rizos@ceps.eu@vasileios_rizos

Key research publications:https://www.ceps.eu/publications/prospects-end-life-electric-vehicle-batteries-circular-economyhttps://www.ceps.eu/publications/role-business-circular-economy-markets-processes-and-enabling-policieshttps://www.ceps.eu/publications/circular-economy-review-definitions-processes-and-impacts

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