Circular Business Models in the Mobile Phone Industry

Summary, in English

The circular economy offer opportunities to reduce resource use and waste whilst providing business opportunities. This is also true in the mobile phone industry that has been characterised by high rates of product obsolescence. The emergence of the smart phone has changed the landscape, making repair, refurbishment and resell attractive to businesses and consumers. Moreover, emerging modular phone design should allow functional upgrades with low resource wastage. This study investigates the adoption of circular business models within Nordic markets. Producers, retailers, refurbishers, recyclers and resellers tell of their motivation, experiences and the challenges that they face. A special look is taken at consumer and waste law and the challenges and opportunities they represent. The report ends with 17 policy proposals that can accelerate the adoption of circularity in the sector.

• Author: David Watson; Anja Charlotte Gylling; Naoko Tojo; Harald Throne-Holst; Bjørn Bauer; Leonidas Milios
• Department/s: The International Institute for Industrial Environmental Economics
• Publishing year: 2017-10-30
• Language: English
• Publication/Series: TemaNord
• Issue: 2017:560
• Links: http://dx.doi.org/10.6027/TN2017-560
• Document type: Report
• Publisher: Nordic Council of Ministers
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Keywords: mobile phone; Sustainable consumption; business models; repair; refurbishment; design
• Status: Published
• Project: Sustainable consumption and business models in the Nordic mobile industry
• ISBN/ISSN/Other: ISSN: 0908-6692; ISBN: 978-92-893-5204-8; ISBN: 978-92-893-5203-1; ISBN: 978-92-893-5202-4