Setting up a Fairphone 4 for one of our customers.

Fairphone use a combination of recycled and sustainably sourced materials. Like other tech companies, they manufacture in China, but they pay their workers a fair wage and provide good working conditions. They also design their devices to be easily repairable.

No, the devices aren't amazing - but they're getting better! The Fairphone 4 runs on Android, has 5G connectivity, and is available with 256GB storage and 8GB of RAM. It has a 3905 mAh battery, and a Qualcomm Snapdragon 750G processor.

And get this - a 5 five year warranty!

Unlike other manufacturers (especially Apple), who purposely make their devices as difficult to repair as possible, Fairphone make repair super easy! The back pops off, and the battery is removable. Underneath, it's just a few Phillips screws and plug-in components. They sell all the parts and provide manuals, so anyone can repair their own device easily!

Fairphone is one of many organisations pushing us towards a circular economy - a model of production and consumption, which involves sharing, leasing, reusing, repairing, refurbishing and recycling existing materials and products for as long as possible.

At Talkback, we are playing our small part in this movement by repairing, refurbishing and re-selling electronics, in order to extend the product life-cycle.

This philosophy needs to adopted by more businesses, and become more deeply ingrained in our culture in order to reduce wastage and save materials, resources and money.

Unfortunately, it's not the best model for high-speed innovation or profit maximisation. Any company that takes even a moment to consider the implications of progress will almost certainly get left behind. In our race to make chips smaller and faster, our environmental impact gets bigger.

Nevertheless, sustainability is becoming increasingly important to consumers. According to recent studies, 85% of consumers have become ‘greener’ in their purchasing in recent years, and more than a third of global consumers are willing to pay more for sustainable options as demand grows for environmentally-friendly alternatives.

Now are you going to swap out you iPhone for a Fairphone? Absolutely not. But just understand that this little Dutch company are pushing sustainable and ethical tech in the right direction; far better than Apple or Samsung ever could.