Create device value through responsible circular action
Customers are increasingly looking to brands for simple, environmentally responsible options. But when it comes to mobile devices, those expectations are not always easy to turn into action.
Most customers recognise that old phones should not be left unused in drawers, sent to landfill or handled through informal and unsafe channels. Yet the typical customer journey does not always make the responsible option clear. Recycling information can be difficult to find, and sustainability messages can feel complex when customers simply want to understand what action they can take and why it matters.
This presents a clear challenge for the mobile ecosystem — and a practical opportunity to make circularity easier for customers to understand and adopt.
Many phones from around the world ultimately reach markets in the Global South for their second or later life. At end-of-life, these devices can create health and environmental risks for local communities where formal recycling capacity is limited.
For operators and device partners, this creates a responsibility to make circularity easier to understand and participate in through everyday customer interactions. To turn that responsibility into customer engagement, circularity needs to be delivered through a compelling service — one that encourages people to explore options such as repair and refurbished devices, while helping to build longer-term demand for a more circular industry.
A practical, customer-focused route into circularity
GSMA Industry Services has partnered with Closing the Loop to help operators and ecosystem partners take practical, customer-centric steps towards device circularity.
Through the One for One service, one expired mobile phone is collected and responsibly recycled by Closing the Loop for every new device delivered by the telecom industry to its customer. The service is designed to be simple to adopt, clear to communicate and relevant to customers. It gives organisations that sell or manage devices a way to connect device activity with measurable circular action, without adding complexity for the end user. Its tangible model can also help customers see how everyday device choices contribute to more responsible e-waste management.
One for One is one step in a wider device circularity journey. It helps customers understand the environmental impact of mobile phones and connects that awareness to tangible action: supporting the collection and responsible recycling of an end-of-life device. Over time, this kind of customer-facing proposition can help build demand for more circular choices and support the mobile ecosystem in designing, selling and managing devices in a more circular way.
Supporting circularity where formal systems are limited
One for One complements activity in an organisation’s own markets. It does not replace local take-back, repair, refurbishment or trade-in programmes. Instead, it provides an additional route to action by supporting collection and responsible recycling in markets where formal e-waste management infrastructure is more limited.
This matters for the mobile industry because devices are central to both customer experience and environmental impact. A practical circularity service can bring those priorities together in a way that is visible, understandable and simple for customers to engage with.
Why the customer story matters
Device circularity is often discussed in operational, regulatory or environmental terms. These are important, but for circularity to scale it also needs to make sense to customers.
Customers are more likely to engage when the action is tangible. “One device collected for one device sold” is a clear promise. It avoids vague language and helps brands explain how a customer-facing device proposition can support more responsible e-waste management.
It also helps organisations communicate progress with greater confidence. Clear metrics, verified reporting and straightforward messaging can support governance, external communications and customer engagement. In a market where sustainability claims face increasing scrutiny, this clarity matters.
Vodafone Germany shows how the model can scale
In 2022, Vodafone Germany adopted One for One as part of its wider device circularity programme.
In the first three years after launch, a GSMAi report* shows that the service supported the collection of more than 2.7 million broken phones in Africa and enabled the recovery of valuable materials including copper, silver and gold. Without this intervention, many of these devices could have remained outside formal collection channels, increasing the risk of informal dismantling, disposal or burning.
The example shows how circularity can move beyond a small pilot or separate sustainability initiative. Instead, it can become part of a mainstream customer proposition that raises awareness, encourages participation and supports measurable progress.
From sustainability commitment to practical customer action
Many organisations have set sustainability ambitions. The next challenge is to make those ambitions practical for customers and scalable across commercial channels.
One for One can support that shift in several ways. It can strengthen a device proposition with a clear circularity benefit, help marketing and retail teams explain sustainability in plain language, support business and public sector bids, and provide measurable results for reporting and communications.
How GSMA Industry Services can help
Contact us by completing the form below if you would like to discuss your use case and how One for One can support your customer experience and circularity programmes.
References
- GSMA Intelligence, “Vodafone: Driving sustainability through device circularity”: Vodafone Germany’s One for One implementation and collection figures.