The True Cost
of Upgrading
Every new phone has a hidden carbon price tag. Find out what yours is — and how to cut it.
Did you know? There are an estimated 40+ million unused phones sitting in UK drawers — each one containing rare earth minerals and embodied carbon that's going to waste.
Your Phone Footprint
0
kg of CO₂ from manufacturing alone
0kg
0kg
0kg
🚗 Kilometres driven
🌳 Trees needed to offset (per year)
☕ Cups of coffee produced
📺 Hours of Netflix streamed
👕 Loads of laundry (40°C)
The Bigger Picture
If every UK adult upgraded 5 times in 10 years, the total manufacturing emissions would reach approximately million tonnes of CO₂
That's more than the annual emissions of some small countries — and it only covers the phones, not the packaging, shipping, or energy to run them.
🌱
A refurbished phone extends a device's life, meaning one fewer phone needs to be manufactured from scratch. The CO₂ saving is immediate.
Pledge to go refurbished and get a £20 off voucher
Share Your Results
Calculate yours at reboxed.co
CO₂ estimates based on published manufacturer environmental reports (Apple Product Environmental Reports), Deloitte research on smartphone lifecycle emissions, and peer-reviewed LCA studies. Manufacturing accounts for 85–95% of a smartphone's lifetime carbon footprint. Refurbished savings assume avoidance of new device manufacturing.
