Western society is a throwaway society. It’s a sad but true fact of life and nowhere is this more apparent than with electronics. In Europe 100 million phones are thrown away each year, with an overwhelming amount of them ending up incinerated or in a landfill. Thirty million computers meet a similar grim fate in the USA, putting toxic electronic waste into the soil and carbon emissions into our atmosphere. The constant clamour for new tech hits us hard in our pockets but hits our planet even harder.
But it doesn’t have to be this way. Tech companies have no interest in putting this right but you can have a huge impact by breaking free from the shiny new chains of quick consumption and the corporate chants of “Brand new! Brand new!”. Here we take a look at some of the main reasons why buying refurbished should be the default and not the alternative.
