CIRCULAR ECONOMY

Trade-in, refurbishment and reuse Vodafone’ s device circularity programme focuses on extending product life through services such as repair, insurance and trade-in, then moving suitable devices into refurbishment and resale channels. In a 2025 GSMA case study on Vodafone’ s circularity strategy, the operator says extending a phone’ s use by one year can reduce its annual CO₂e impact by up to 29 %, while a refurbished phone can avoid around 50kg of CO₂e over two years compared with using a new phone for three years. Those figures make the circularity argument tangible for customers and enterprise buyers alike.

The company has also broadened the resale proposition in Europe through partnerships, including with Recommerce, and has used digital channels to make trade-in more accessible. Vodafone UK’ s refurbished-phone offer underlines that these devices are not positioned as a niche add-on but as a standard retail proposition, with tested handsets and warranty support. That helps normalise second-life devices in the consumer market, which remains essential if circularity is to move beyond pilots.