Gold Mines in Our Dusty Drawers
By Nazo Moosa, Managing Partner, Europe and Nina Litman, Strategy Analyst Energy Impact Partners
Our linear ‘take-make-waste’ economy generates two billion tons of municipal solid waste per annum according to the World Bank. Not only do growing populations exacerbate the problem, but as economies get richer, they generate more waste per capita. The IPCC estimates that global waste management and landfills produced 64 million tons of methane per year between 2008 and 2017, with emissions steadily increasing.
Transitioning from our current system towards to a regenerative economy, in which materials are circulated in closed-loop production systems, will be essential to minimise resource consumption and associated emissions. The Circular Economy is an approach to organising production and consumption that touches every industry, in principle. In practice, the EU prioritises a select group of industries, such as electronics, batteries and vehicles, and plastics.
Circular Economy in Consumer Electronics
Studies estimate that the carbon footprint of the entire electronics industry — from laptops, smartphones to computers and servers — tripled to about 3.7% of global greenhouse emissions in the past decade. According to the UN, Europe generates 12 million tons of e-waste every year. Countries such as Norway and UK generate some 24 kg of waste per capita per year compared to a global average of 7 kg.
Consumers appear hungry for change, with movements such as the Right to Repair demanding the availability and affordability of spare parts. EU regulators have enshrined the principles of the circular economy in the European Green Deal by requiring manufacturers and retailers of consumer devices to recycle devices returned by customers.
Smartphones represent a major challenge, having become both ubiquitous and disposable, with an average lifetime of about two years. Manufacturing a new smartphone, including mining for critical materials, amounts to roughly 80% of the device’s total carbon footprint over its two-year lifespan. With each generation of increasingly feature-rich phones, carbon emissions rise further. The carbon footprint of the Apple 12 Pro Max is 86 kg, which is 51% more than for an iPhone 6.
Recycling rare earths and other materials inside consumer electronics devices are critical to the technologies powering the energy transition, such as electric vehicles and hydrogen electrolysers. Access to abundant, low-cost raw materials is necessary for these clean technologies to scale. With increasingly challenging and tight supply chains, recycling offers a sustainable way to ensure the energy transition stays on track. Although each smartphone contains only a few grams of rare earths, in aggregate they make up a meaningful volume of supply. Miniature gold mines live in our dusty desk drawers, waiting for good use.
Recycling obsolete products is not sufficient to retain and recover their entire value. Before recycling devices, we need to maximise the lifetime of electronic equipment by increasing repairability and re-use. According to a European Environmental Bureau study, extending the lifespan of smartphones by just one year would save as much as removing two million cars off the roads. Alternatively, renting a reconditioned device enables consumers to change phones without the CO2 emissions associated with manufacturing, which account for 80% of the total.
EIP’s Investment In Grover
EIP is excited to lead Grover’s $110m Series C round and to support the company as it seeks to radically reduce consumer electronics waste.
As a global leader in technology rentals, Energy Impact Partners’ latest portfolio addition offers consumers and enterprises the choice to subscribe for devices instead of purchasing them. As Grover’s products are repaired, refurbished, and recirculated up to eight times, users can benefit from all the devices in circulation — ultimately from drones to dishwashers — while minimising e-waste and landfill use. Grover has circulated over 500,000 tech products spanning the entire consumer electronics spectrum.
EIP looks forward to supporting Michael Cassau and the Grover management team as they scale across Europe and the all-important US market. Grover, is a fantastic example of EIP’s mission to produce strong market returns by backing entrepreneurs who are developing the most impactful carbon mitigating technologies and business models.
