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Chances are your smartphone is important to you.

Chancesunderline drawing are your
is importantCircle drawing to you.
Smartphone sticker background
Smartphone sticker text

But it’s also very important to the big picture. All of your devices are.

But it’s also very importantCircle drawing to the big picture. All of your devices are.
Climate change
Depletion of energy and raw materials
Pollution of soil, air, water
Depletion of energy and raw materials
Climate change
Pollution of soil, air, water

From the moment they're manufactured to the moment they're discarded, our electronics have a huge impact on the Earth.

Humans vs. The World

We're coming to a point where the Earth will no longer be able to support us. We're running out of resources... and time.

What’s crazy is that we’re speeding up the process every time we buy new.

What’s crazy is that we’re speeding upCircle drawing the process every time we buy new.
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Companies are overmanufacturing more electronics than we need.

90% of carbon footprint
Over 90% of a smartphone's carbon footprint happens before it leaves the factory
90% of carbon footprint
21,741 gallons of water is what it takes to manufacture a single smartphone.
90% of carbon footprint
Manufacturing plants run on fossil fuels, which emit damaging greenhouse gases
90% of carbon footprint
Raw materials are heavily mined — there's more gold in 1 metric ton of e-waste than in 1 metric ton of gold ore.

We’re using up precious resources to make electronics that will be trashed.

E-waste is the fastest-growing

Electronic waste is the fastest‑growing solid‑waste stream, beating out fast fashion.

E‑waste, or electronic waste, is surging. Each year the world creates 5,683 Eiffel Towers of e‑waste, which is enough to cover all of Manhattan. Source: World Economic Forum, 2021
E-waste is the most toxic solid-waste stream

It's also the most toxic solid‑waste stream, contaminating land, water,
and air.

Concentrated levels of lead and mercury in e‑waste have devastating effects on humans, including respiratory disease, reduced cognitive abilities, and still or premature births. Source: WHO Initiative on E‑waste and Child Health 2021
17.4%
82.6%
E-waste is the most toxic solid-waste stream, contaminating land, water, and air.

Only 17.4% of e-waste will be properly collected and recycled.

Only 17.4% of it will be properly collected and recycled.

82.6% of e-waste won’t be recycled correctly — we simply can’t keep up with the rapid pace of overmanufacturing.

82.6% won’t be recycled correctly .

It’s time to hit the brakes.

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We don’t always need new electronics.
We need to break free from the mind control.

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Planned
obsolescence

Definition

A business practice that deliberately ensures a current version of a given product will become outdated or useless within a known time period.

Example

Like when tech companies won't provide hardware or software support beyond a certain number of years (even if they could if they wanted to).

Definition

A business practice that deliberately ensures a current version of a given product will become outdated or useless within a known time period.

Example

Like when tech companies won't provide hardware or software support beyond a certain number of years (even if they could if they wanted to).

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Perceived
obsolescence

Definition

When a company creates conditions meant to persuade consumers to replace a product while it continues to be functional.

Example

Like when a phone manufacturer consistently releases new models a year or less apart. This prematurely "ages" devices in the eyes of their owners when these devices could continue to function perfectly for years.

Definition

When a company creates conditions meant to persuade consumers to replace a product while it continues to be functional.

Example

Like when a phone manufacturer consistently releases new models a year or less apart. This prematurely "ages" devices in the eyes of their owners when these devices could continue to function perfectly for years.

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Pressure
tactics

Definition

High pressure sales tactics are techniques employed to manipulate and pressure consumers to make purchases they wouldn't make otherwise.

Example

Retailers and manufacturers that aggressively advertise Black Friday sales and additional discounts to pressure people to buy new electronics from them.

Definition

High pressure sales tactics are techniques employed to manipulate and pressure consumers to make purchases they wouldn't make otherwise.

Example

Retailers and manufacturers that aggressively advertise Black Friday sales and additional discounts to pressure people to buy new electronics from them.

We also need to get away from the linear status quo

We need to stop thinking that new is better.

It’s not. Whenever we buy new tech, we’re supporting the linear economy, one where raw materials are mined to make electronics that are purposefully destined to end up in a landfill after one use.
Design
Production
Distribution
Consumption
Collection
Recycling
It’s time to go circular

It’s time to go circular.

In a circular economy, tech is made to be reused as long as possible. If we want to extend the life of our natural resources, we also need to extend the lives of our electronics — of all our things. They say cats have multiple lives and frankly our tech does, too.
Design
Production
Distribution
Consumption
Collection
Recycling

When it comes to electronics we mostly only hear about recycling.

We’re buying and discarding new devices at a rate that can’t be properly recycled

But it’s not enough, especially when we’re buying and discarding new devices at a rate that can’t be properly recycled.

Despite the damaging environmental effects of buying new, new electronics are preferred by 84% of consumers over used or refurbished tech.
Buying habits for:
  • New
  • Used
  • Refurbished

We need to repair. And we need to start buying renewed.

Why renewed is the right choice 99.86983%* of the time.

3 reasons
*That's a very specific percentage. Jokes aside, while using your tech for as long as possible is the best choice, when you can't or don't want to repair your device, buying renewed is the next solid, sustainable option.
1

As good as new (when done right)

Refurbished electronics are just as reliable as new electronics when they're properly restored by expert refurbishers.
2

Low impact on planet and wallet

It's a sustainable choice that comes at a lower cost. Not in the long run, but immediately. Refurbished electronics can be just a fraction of the price of comparable new models.
3

Lowers carbon emissions

A refurbished smartphone prevents 175.7 lbs of carbon emissions. By extending the life of a device you get more bang for your buck while lowering your overall footprint.

Are you ready to take action?

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Ready for some action? Let us count the ways.

Reduce

Reduce

Reduce e-waste by taking care of your electronics so that they last longer, and avoid the trap of feeling the need to buy new.

Learn more
Repair

Repair

Don't replace if you can repair. Take your device to a repair shop or use resources like iFixit to DIY.

Learn more
Reuse

Reuse

Pass down, donate or sell your device. It probably has more life in it than you might think.

Learn more
Recycle

Recycle

Just remember, recycling should be a last resort.

Learn more

Spread the word

Invisible Tech

It's time to take a good hard look at your phone. Or tablet. Or laptop. If we want to make headway in averting climate change and lowering humanity's overall impact on the Earth, we can't afford to ignore the environmental footprint of our tech.

Part of our mission at Back Market is to bring awareness to this part of tech that is virtually invisible. Yes, we have a stake in that as a refurbished electronics marketplace. But we also have a stake in that as people who live on this planet. So do you.

Learn more

We won’t use your data.

Invisible Tech doesn’t use cookies, doesn’t track users, and doesn’t want to know anything about you at all.

@ 2022 Back Market

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Climate change
Depletion of energy and raw materials
Pollution of soil, air, water
Earth
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Your tech matters 2 min read
A fight we can't win 2 min read
It’s not over until it’s over 2 min read
Do something 2 min read
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Backmarket - State of Refurbished

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About

Purchasing habits for new, used, and renewed electronics

Globally

Buying habits for:
  • New
  • Used
  • Refurbished

Germany

Buying habits for:
  • New
  • Used
  • Refurbished

France

Buying habits for:
  • New
  • Used
  • Refurbished

United Kingdom

Buying habits for:
  • New
  • Used
  • Refurbished

United States

Buying habits for:
  • New
  • Used
  • Refurbished

Spain:

Buying habits for:
  • New
  • Used
  • Refurbished
Eye vectorLines vector

We're not crying

(We're crying)
  • 01

    Your tech matters 2 min read

  • 02

    A fight we can't win 2 min read

  • 03

    It’s not over until it’s over 2 min read

  • 04

    Do something 2 min read

  • TL;DR
  • About
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About

It’s more than
Kool-Aid

Invisible Tech is a project created by Back Market. Our goal is to tie together crucial information about our technology that is often overlooked and put it into context within an important narrative: our survival.

Everything comes at a cost, and our electronics come at an especially high cost to our environment. While tech is useful to humanity, the price for having it shouldn’t be our lives or those of future generations. It’s easy to understand why people might think that there are bigger fish to fry — climate change, hunger, water shortages. The main message we’d like to send across is that our electronics are an important piece of the big environmental puzzle that we are trying to solve.

It’s a message that we hope will be heard by many, because this is one of the rare occasions when making a difference doesn’t need more effort or expense. To break it down one more time, this is what it means to “do something”:

  1. Hold on to your electronics as long as possible.
  2. Repair your tech when you can.
  3. If an older device is still functioning, sell it or give it to someone else to use. Save recycling as a last resort.
  4. Prioritize buying refurbished over new when shopping for electronics.

The situation is urgent and the actions to be taken on the grassroots level are easy. We hope, through our company’s efforts, that doing the right thing will be even easier when it comes to our own area of expertise — refurbished devices. Refurbished electronics have had a difficult history because of the so-called “lemon effect” (tl;dr: uncertainty about quality drives prices down while also edging high-quality goods out of the market). Our goal is to break out of this pattern by working with sellers to have more reliability in the refurbished device category and to slowly build trust.

About Back Market

Launched in 2014, Back Market is the world’s leading dedicated refurbished tech marketplace. The company brings high-quality professionally refurbished electronics devices and appliances to customers in 16 countries (and counting). Back Market advocates for regulations that support and enable the circular economy, including Right to Repair.

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TLDR

Invisible Tech

Your tech matters, not only to you but to the whole world. You may not have realized it, but each device you own has a hefty environmental impact — from the moment it’s manufactured to the moment that it’s discarded. We need to slow down on buying new tech. We’re running out of resources, and of time.

But we’re not running out of options. At least not yet. We can still reduce, reuse, repair, refurbish, and recycle.

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