A green mobile phone?
A different tactic
Usually the battle for mobile customers is fought over minutes, megabytes of data or the price of a handset. However, Vodafone has come up with a new way of getting customers on board - the green angle. It has introduced a sustainability ranking for the phones it sells in the UK (see The next step ). The idea is to let its customers compare the environmental and social impacts of different handsets.
How it works
Vodafone has asked each phone manufacturer more than 200 questions about the environmental and social impacts of their products. These questions include the sourcing of the raw materials used, like gold, silver and copper; the amount of energy and water used in production; the distance travelled by components and the phone itself; the inclusion of design features to reduce the phone’s energy use; and how easy it is to recycle or replace components. They then get an overall rating of between 0 and 5.0 - the higher the score, the greener the phone.
What’s the greenest phone?
It’s actually pretty hard to tell. This is because most manufacturers haven’t responded to Vodafone’s sustainability questionnaire. We did manage to find a BlackBerry with a 2.6 rating, but there were few others with ratings available to make a comparison against.
We see a problem!
Apart from the fact that most phone suppliers don’t want to play Vodafone’s games, there’s another problem: the phones used on their competitor’s networks are exactly the same models. This means that a Vodafone phone is no greener than one on EE, O2 or any other network.
If you want the green low-down
Although Vodafone’s scheme is struggling to get off the ground, you can establish the green credentials of a mobile phone from research completed by Ethical Consumer (see The next step ). It ranks manufacturers (rather than specific phones) out of 20, using a range of measures, many of which are similar to those in Vodafone’s scheme.
Trap. Ethical Consumer doesn’t give away its research for free. A subscription to its website is £29.95. You can, however, get a free trial.
What’s the greenest?
Top of the table is Fairphone, which scores 15 out of 20. HTC, Sony and Apple, by comparison, score just 7, 6.5 and 6 respectively. The Fairphone smartphone costs £250 for a handset, which is definitely cheaper than an Apple iPhone (£469 for a comparable 16gb 5s).
Tip. Putting green credentials over practicality and functionality is unlikely to win you favour with staff who will be using the phone. As such, the green benefits of a handset shouldn’t be your primary consideration.
For a link to the Vodafone and Ethical Consumer websites, visit http://tipsandadvice-environment.co.uk/download (EN 09.03.03).
Create your profile to unlock this advice and many more.