Over its life, the new iPhone 11 will create 72kg of CO2  so the constant manufacture and purchase of  new phones is adding to the rising carbon levels in the atmosphere. But there is an answer: re-using devices. 

“If everyone in London chose a refurbished, reused phone instead of a new one, we could save 534,000 tonnes of CO2 every year” says Asad Hamir, co-founder of circular technology company Klyk.

“It would also reduce the mountains of electronic waste polluting the planet. There was 50 million tonnes of e-waste created in 2019, equivalent to the mass of roughly 271,000 Boeing 747s. This is only going to increase – e-waste is  set to double to 110 million tonnes by 2050.”

Hamir continues: “Technology innovation is increasingly in the software rather than hardware. Buying new models is expensive, and it’s so unnecessary when re-used devices can do the same job. They cost less, aren’t as detrimental to the environment and look as good as new. There’s really no down-side.”

To tackle this, new B2B tech provider Klyk will do more with less, going against the industry’s model of using annual marketing launches to create consumer desire. Instead, it will supply good-as-new refurbished phones, tablets, laptops and desktops from every major manufacturer, so that clients get the tech they need at a lower cost while helping to reduce CO2 emissions and the world’s e-waste problem.

To solve the issue of disposing of tech in responsible way, Klyk will also take back devices once the client has finished with them and, instead of recycling, it will find them new homes. “Recycling is not the answer,” says Hamir. “We need to make better use of what we’ve got, and that starts with reuse.” 

“It’s part of our mission to change the way people own and use technology and bring tech supply into the circular economy. Sustainability isn’t mentioned by most tech suppliers, but it matters to modern businesses. As business owners, that’s what we wanted, but it didn’t exist. So we started Klyk.”