Fairphone is a mobile phone brand founded in the Netherlands and with an R&D team from Taiwan. Its mission is to create electronic products that are fairer and more eco-friendly for the people and the planet by taking product lifecycles into consideration.
Over 1 billion smartphones are produced every year, and their service life is usually only around 2 to 3 years. However, only 15% of them are recycled. The consumer electronics industry features rapid innovation, and the designs are not conducive to users disassembling and repairing their own devices. This results in a large amount of electronic waste as well as significant impacts to the environment and society.
Since 2013, Fairphone has been launching phones based on the concepts of fairness and sustainability, and released their latest Fairphone 5 in August 2023. The company’s circular economy model involves designing products that will last a long time, using fair and recycled materials, supporting fair manufacturing practices, and reducing electronic waste.
Longevity: Creating Products that Last
Fairphone insists on using modular designs that make it convenient for users to disassemble and replace components in their own devices, and provides support via software updates for up to 8 years at launch to ensure their products are used for a long time after sale.
Choosing Fairer Materials
A total of 43% of the materials used in the Fairphone 5 are sustainably sourced, including a back cover that’s made of 100% recycled plastic, printed circuit boards that contain 100% recycled copper, and frames that contain 100% recycled aluminum.
Fair Factories: Decent Work in Manufacturing
Fairphone has implemented the "Living Wage Bonus Program". For every Fairphone 5 manufactured, a nearly $1.84 bonus is given to workers on the assembly line, urging other brands to join the initiative to improve workers' living conditions.
E-waste: Take-back Reuse and Recycling
The Fairphone 5 is an "e-waste neutral" mobile phone. For every phone sold, an equal amount of e-waste is responsibly recycled by partners in Africa and other places.
Benefits
By product longevity, using recycled materials, and e-waste recycling projects, in 2023 Fairphone avoided electronic waste by 29 tons and carbon emissions by 944 tons.
The Fairphone’s fair materials program and living wage bonus program have benefited and improved the living conditions of more than 100,000 workers in the mining and electronics industries since 2017.