How you can #SwitchToGreen on Earth Day 2022

Earth Day 2022 marks the launch of Vodafone’s new #SwitchToGreen campaign. Our mission is to encourage customers, businesses and wider society to switch to making greener choices through technology.

Alex Froment-Curtil, Chief Commercial Officer, Vodafone said: “We want to make greener choices as a business and help our customers to do the same. That’s why we’re providing more information around the sustainability of smartphones, offering advice on how to make them last longer, and making it easier to recycle and buy refurbished devices.”

Vodafone’s entire European operations – our mobile and fixed networks, data centres and offices – are now 100% powered by electricity from renewable sources. We’re working to achieve the same step-change across our markets in Africa by 2025. By joining Vodafone, you can rest assured that the connectivity you’re using is powered by sustainable energy.

Here are some ways you can #SwitchToGreen this Earth Day:

1. Receive a half-sized SIM, made using recycled plastic

Since October 2021, we have been providing our customers across Europe, as well as Egypt, Turkey and South Africa, with more environmentally friendly SIMs, still in the material-saving half-sized format. These are made using recycled plastic and eliminate the need for 320 tonnes of new plastic to be manufactured each year – potentially saving around 1,280 tonnes of carbon emissions per year.

2. Activate smartphone features that extend your battery life

Smartphone batteries are complicated bits of technology, designed to last a limited number of charge cycles. However, most smartphones include features that can be activated to help extend battery life between charges and increase the lifespan of the device. This ultimately leads to fewer old phones being recycled and less new phones being produced, helping create a more sustainable, circular economy for the smartphone market.

We worked with the team at Android to explain how those work.

3. Recycle old devices and consider refurbished replacements

Purchasing a refurbished smartphone saves carbon emissions and removes the need to extract raw materials needed for a newly manufactured device. We’re making it easier for consumers across our markets to recycle their old devices as much as possible and purchase refurbished smartphones.

Starting in European markets from Spring this year, we’ll also be offering all customers a comprehensive and convenient suite of services, including insurance, support and repairs for their devices, to help keep those devices alive for longer.

4. Time for an upgrade? Look out for the Eco Rating

Vodafone has joined forces with five of Europe’s leading mobile operators to launch a pan-industry Eco Rating labelling scheme to help consumers identify and compare which mobile phones are more sustainable.

The Eco Rating labels are designed to provide consumers with consistent, accurate information on the environmental impact of producing, using, transporting and disposing of smartphones and feature phones, enabling them to make more informed choices about the devices they’re buying.

A range of new consumer phones from 16 brands are being assessed by the Eco Rating initiative so far, with others expected to be announced in the future.