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Setty wall charger USB + USB-C 20W, black0 € How green are used devices?
People talk a lot about environmental benefits, but rarely show the numbers and even more rarely the source. Here is everything we rely on, together with what we don't promise.
A device's impact is created in the factory, not in your pocket
It's the one thing you really need to understand on this topic. Everything else follows from it.
For every model Apple publishes an environmental report with a life-cycle assessment under ISO 14040, 14044 and 14067. They all show the same thing: most of a device's carbon footprint is already “paid” by the time it leaves the factory. How sparingly you use the device and how long it sits on the charger changes only a small part. The only big lever is not having a new one made.
Exactly how much one used device saves
The figures aren't ours — they come from a 2022 study on refurbished smartphones by the French Agency for Ecological Transition ADEME and the regulator Arcep.
The study also answers the usual counter-question: if a refurbished device gets a new screen and battery, doesn't that cancel it all out? No — even with replaced parts the impact stays two to four times lower than for a new device.
Why this matters right here
In 2023, 32,2 kg of new electrical equipment per inhabitant was placed on the market in the European Union. In the same year 11,6 kg per inhabitant was collected for recycling. The difference — more than 20 kg per person per year — is partly still in use, partly lying in drawers, and some ends up in unrecorded channels.
Electronics is one of the fastest-growing waste streams in Europe. A device that goes back into use for another couple of years is at the same time one new device not produced and one that hasn't yet become waste.
EU in 2023, per inhabitant
32,2 kg — new electrical equipment placed on the market
11,6 kg — electrical waste collected
20,6 kg — the difference that stays in circulation or unrecorded
Source: Eurostat, October 2025 publication of 2023 data
What bigone.lv does about all this
We're not a recycling company. We're the last link — the one that puts the device back to work.
- The devices have already been taken out of circulation. They come from European company fleets, lease returns and carrier trade-in programs — they had already been replaced with new ones.
- Each one passes a 17-point inspection at a certified processing center in the EU instead of being resold “as is”.
- Data is erased with a certificate — the device can safely change owners instead of lying in a drawer.
- 12-month warranty, extendable by another 12. A device under warranty gets repaired rather than thrown away at the first problem.
- Honest grade and contents. If there's no original box, we say so and the price is lower — we don't repack it in new packaging.
What we don't promise
We don't plant a tree for every purchase and we don't call ourselves climate neutral. We have no green certificate to hang on this page.
Buying used is not zero impact — it is lower impact. The device still has to be tested, packed and delivered, and that also costs the environment something.
The difference is that we can tell you exactly how much and from what source. All figures on this page come from public documents by manufacturers and government agencies, linked below.
Sources
- Apple, iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus Product Environmental Report, September 2024 — iPhone 16 128 GB: 56 kg CO₂e, production 80 %.
- Apple, iPad (A16) Product Environmental Report, March 2025 — 128 GB: 74 kg CO₂e, production 74 %.
- Apple, Apple Watch Series 10 Product Environmental Report, September 2024 — titanium case, GPS + Cellular: 8,4 kg CO₂e, production 81 %.
- Apple, M4 MacBook Air Product Environmental Report, March 2025 — 13″ 256 GB: 120 kg CO₂e; the percentage breakdown is given for the 15″ M4 512 GB version.
- ADEME and Arcep, Évaluation de l'impact environnemental d'un ensemble de produits reconditionnés, 2022.
- Eurostat, Waste statistics — electrical and electronic equipment, published October 2025 for 2023 data.
One device that goes back to work
Phones, tablets, laptops, smartwatches and desktop computers with a warranty and a known origin.
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