Europeans bought 130 million new smartphones in 2023. The production of each phone emitted 80 kg of CO₂. Refurbished smartphones have a 78% lower carbon footprint, but only 25% of pre-owned phones in Europe are resold.  That’s nearly 98 million smartphones that aren’t refurbished—a significant missed opportunity to cut carbon emissions.

A Finnish company, Swappie, is seizing that opportunity, refurbishing and reselling smartphones to help customers shrink their carbon footprint and embrace the circular economy.

And it all started when Sami Marttinen was scammed.

“I bought a used phone online,” recalls Marttinen, “but it never arrived.”

After reporting the fraud to the police and realising such scams were common, Marttinen and his partner saw a business opportunity. “The entrepreneur in me woke up the next day. We did some research, and that’s how Swappie was born.”

Refurbishing in the mainstream

Today, the company Marttinen founded is Europe’s largest iPhone refurbisher, with over two million customers served in 13 countries. “Our goal is to make refurbished mainstream,” Marttinen says. “The problem is that most people don’t trust refurbished smartphones. We need to change that.”

Swappie builds trust by offering warranties of up to three years on refurbished devices. “If people trust the market, they’ll be more willing to consume circular products,” Marttinen says.

The company is also promoting the environmental benefits of choosing refurbished over new. “Extending a smartphone’s lifespan by just one year cuts its lifetime carbon emission by a third,” Marttinen explains.

In 2021 alone, Swappie estimates its customers saved 24 000 tonnes of CO₂ – equivalent to the carbon captured by nearly 400 000 trees over a decade.

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Sami Marttinen, Swappie co-founder.

“Our goal is to make refurbished mainstream.”

Sami Marttinen

Swappie co-founder

Going circular

With over 41 billion smart devices expected to be online by 2025, the amount of e-waste is growing. The European Union generates five million tonnes of e-waste annually.

Smartphones play a crucial role in this issue, because they contain critical raw materials like cobalt and lithium, which are essential for everything from electric vehicle batteries to renewable energy storage. If only 50% of the smartphones sold in 2023 were refurbished or recycled, Europe could save or recover 1365 tonnes of cobalt and 195 tonnes of lithium – more than half of the 380 tonnes produced by Europe’s largest producer, Portugal, in 2023.

That’s why the European Investment Bank supported the company with €17 million in venture debt financing, backed by the InvestEU programme. The initiative aims to trigger more than €372 billion in additional investment between 2021 and 2027.

“Swappie’s work reduces e-waste and new raw material use, which is crucial for the European Investment Bank, as it aligns with our commitment to a circular economy and sustainable innovation,” says Iwona Biernat, the loan officer working on the project at the European Union’s lending arm.

Phones out of drawers

The loan will support the company’s investment in research and development and robotics, helping to make iPhone repairs faster and more reliable. However, for the refurbishing sector to grow, another important element is missing. According to Eurostat, less than a third of Europeans sell or recycle their old phones, while nearly half keep them in their household.

“We need to get people to sell their old smartphones,” Marttinen says. “The average family has two or three old phones stashed away. We need to get those phones out of their drawers.”

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“We need to get those phones out of their drawers.”

Sami Marttinen

Swappie co-founder