6 Ways to Reduce the Carbon Footprint of Your Phone

Smartphones are essential everyday tech, but they come at a cost.

Climate change has become a huge talking point in the tech industry today, given the state of our planet. Almost every major tech company has announced its plans to cut its carbon emissions and contribute to carbon neutrality. While this is good news, it will not do much good if consumer buying behaviors remain unchanged.

You don't have to be an expert to understand that a higher number of smartphones manufactured directly translates to a higher global carbon footprint. Let's go over six tips to help you reduce the carbon footprint of your phone (or any other smart gadget).

1. Use Your Phone for as Long as Possible

The first and the simplest way to reduce your phone's carbon footprint is to just carry it for longer than you normally would before you switch to a new one. People usually switch their phones after every two to three years, which is unnecessary since most smartphones today offer only minor incremental updates over their predecessors.

Unless you work with tech for a living and absolutely need the latest software update, you shouldn't update your phone every three years if you want to reduce your carbon footprint. Instead, try out these tips to make your phone feel new again to motivate yourself to carry your phone for longer.

2. Follow Battery Health Guidelines

Perhaps the most common reason why people upgrade to a new phone is that the old one started to have battery problems. We know that smartphone batteries are made of lithium-ion, and they inevitably degrade over time even if the phone is not in use.

Fortunately, there are things you can do to slow down this degradation and increase the overall lifespan of your phone. Simply follow these five battery health guidelines:

1. Avoid extreme temperatures: Batteries hate extreme temperatures, hot and cold alike. Prolonged exposure to such conditions can damage their internal structure and reduce their maximum capacity. To avoid that, try to keep your phone between 32° to 95 °F (0° to 35 °C) at all times.
2. Don't use your phone while charging: We know that fast charging can be harmful as it generates a lot of heat, but if you're going to use it anyway, it's best to leave your phone alone when it's charging. Using your phone while it's charging will only heat it up even more and make things worse.
3. Avoid wireless chargers: Wireless charging is bad for battery health for several reasons, mainly due to the heat it produces. In comparison, wired wall chargers are faster, more efficient, and do the least amount of damage to your battery.
4. Don't fully charge or drain your phone: The more imbalance your phone holds, the faster it will degrade. That's why it's best to keep your phone between 20% to 80% charge and never higher or lower. If you often go from 0% to 100% and vice-versa, you're asking for trouble.
5. Avoid long charge cycles: Charging your phone for 15–30 minutes every couple of hours is way healthier than charging it all the way through for one or two hours or overnight. Short, random charges are fine and won't damage your battery.

Following these above rules will prolong your battery health and help you carry it for longer, removing the need to buy a new phone sooner.

3. Get the Battery Replaced

A great way to dramatically reduce your phone's carbon footprint is to get the battery replaced once it degrades. You don't need to throw away the whole phone just because the battery has become problematic.

If all the other components are working fine, then simply getting a new battery can help you carry your phone for another two to three years. And since replacement batteries only cost $25 to $100 on average, you'll also be saving money in the process.

4. Repair Broken Parts or Recycle Old Phone

This one is pretty self-explanatory; repairing a broken phone is always less harmful to the environment than buying a new one. That's why when buying a new phone, you should always consider how expensive and easily available its spare parts are. Some brands make the repair process easy, while others go out of their way to make you upgrade.

If that's not an option and you have a get a new phone, you still shouldn't throw out your old one. There are a ton of ways you can recycle your old phone and give it new life, which may stop you from buying other dedicated gadgets.

5. Sell, Donate, or Trade Your Phone

If none of the above options suit you and you just want to get rid of your phone, the most environmentally responsible way is to sell or donate it. The idea here is simple: it doesn't matter who's using the device as long as someone is. If you sell your phone, the new owner might use and carry the device for a couple more years after you're done with it, increasing its life.

You can also choose to trade in your phone when buying a new one to cut down its price. Many manufacturers offer good trade-in value in exchange for your old phone. Once traded, the phone is stripped for parts and recycled, putting its components to good use.

6. Use Back Covers and Screen Protectors

Most smartphone users tend to use back covers and screen protectors. And although buying these items does increase your carbon footprint a bit from the get-go, it's a necessary evil because they help protect your phone from damage and thus keep you from buying a new one or spare parts which produces way more carbon emissions in comparison.

Reduce Your Phone's Carbon Footprint

Anything you can do to avoid your phone ending up in a landfill somewhere is good for the planet. Using tech in an environmentally responsible manner is not optional; it's a necessity.

The simplest and the most powerful way to reduce your phone's carbon footprint is to carry it for as long as possible before upgrading. The longer your phone remains with you, the longer it stays away from a landfill, reducing its contribution to climate change.