"Care for the environment is the basis of all our actions. Starting from the Orange Group's commitment to achieving neutrality in terms of carbon dioxide emissions by 2040 and through the OrangeForward strategy, we have assumed the ambition that in 2026 Orange will be the #1 choice for sustainable connectivity solutions and integrated digital services. Thus, in addition to the energy efficiency initiatives we implement, we encourage the circular economy, and the <<Re>> program is the invitation we launched to clients to get involved in sustainability. We mark 1 year of the program with an offer aimed at buying back old phones, which will receive a new life through reconditioning or recycling. We propose that through the €100 voucher we offer, we motivate more and more customers to responsibly dispose of the devices they no longer use", said Antoine Drevon, Chief Marketing Officer at Orange Romania.
The circular economy involves minimizing waste by extending the life cycle of products. Orange is the first telecommunications operator in Romania to launch a national circular economy initiative, to give new life to used phones.
This includes four areas of action, as follows:
1. Buy-Back, through which customers can bring old functional phones to any Orange store, for which they can receive a discount voucher for the purchase of a new device. In the first year of "Re", the company collected about 300,000 phones, equivalent to a quantity of over 29 tons. Starting in April 2023, Orange offers customers the opportunity to reintroduce smartwatches to the circular economy. They receive an additional €20 discount on the evaluation of the exchanged product for the purchase of a new Samsung smartwatch.
2. Phone repair in Orange Care Centers, a service available since 2009 in dedicated Orange stores, a "one-stop shop" for all the problems customers encounter with mobile devices. Phone repair is the way customers choose to keep the devices important to them as long as possible, in the best shape. Approximately 60,000 phones were repaired under the "Re" program.
3. Recycling - in all Orange stores there is a dedicated box for collecting phones, tablets, smartwatches, chargers, or headphones that users no longer use or that no longer work. Every month, the collected quantities are recycled or given a second life through refurbishing. Up to 90% of a phone's components can be recycled, while manufacturing a smartphone requires an average of 44kg of raw materials from 70 materials, including metals and rare or limited materials, the extraction of which has a significant impact on the environment.
4. Refurbishment - since 2013, Orange has had an online section dedicated to the sale of refurbished phones. As an alternative to new phones, customers can choose from a range of refurbished phones on sale. They go through rigorous quality control before being put back on sale, have an attractive price, a 12-month warranty, and are a more environmentally friendly choice.
Also, on March 18, 2023, 50 Orange volunteers planted 5,000 acacia seedlings at Moara Domnească, Ilfov, "Re" Forest, on a plot of 1 hectare. The company marked in this way the approximately 50,000 phones collected in the first 3 months of 2023.
