32 Vodafone Group Plc Annual Report 2026
Strategic report
Governance
Financials
Other information
Protecting the Planet continued
Device equipment e-waste and circularity We retail smartphones, other mobile devices and Customer Premise Equipment (‘CPE’) devices, such as broadband routers and TV set-top boxes, to consumers and enterprise customers. The production of these electronic devices requires the extraction and use of natural resources, such as tin, tungsten, tantalum and gold. Improper disposal of these devices can contribute to pollution. Strategy Our approach to device circularity comprises six priority areas of action: 1. We encourage consumers to extend the lifetime of their mobile device by trading it in to be refurbished and resold. 2. Consumers and enterprise customers are encouraged to purchase second-hand mobile and CPE devices. 3. We empower customers to repair their devices instead of replacing them when faced with damage or technical issues through our after-sales services and our insurance programme. 4. Customer financing options are offered, which encourage them to keep their mobile devices for longer, thus helping to extend the device lifecycle. 5. We continue to integrate environmental criteria into the product design and development process for our own CPE and TV set-top box devices 6. We encourage customers to return end-of-life mobile and CPE devices, so that they can be responsibly recycled. This year We focused on developing our services to help customers keep their devices in use for longer or recycle them. We expanded our trade-in and second-life propositions across our markets. For example, we partnered with Recommerce in Germany to offer our customers the possibility to purchase refurbished devices, enabling them to participate in the circular economy. To drive the growth of this programme, we are also testing new
trade-in models in Portugal with leading partners to improve customer experience and encourage them to choose refurbished phones. Additionally, we scaled our repair and insurance services, which support customers in keeping their devices for longer. We also introduced flexible financing options, making it easier for customers to access insurance and repair their devices in the event of damage. We raised awareness of our circularity commitments among our customers. We launched our global campaign ‘We Need the Phones you Don’t’ to encourage customers to trade in their devices, and raised awareness among enterprise customers by hosting a series of roundtables on sustainability topics in partnership with the Economist. We also published a report to provide robust consumer insights highlighting growing demand for refurbished devices and uncovering the motivations and barriers that shape behaviour towards refurbished devices. We continued to offer products and services to our customers to promote circularity. For example, our end-to-end Device Lifecycle Management (‘DLM’) service for business customers embeds circularity into its core commercial model to simplify device estates, while delivering measurable environmental and social impact at scale. In 2025, we were able to redeploy over 99% of devices returned from the DLM leasing programme. This contributed to carbon reduction, waste avoidance, and the advancement of a closed loop economy, underscoring our ambition to set the global benchmark for sustainable and scalable device ecosystems for businesses. We also continued to leverage the TÜV Rheinland Green Product Mark to encourage customers to purchase sustainable Vodafone branded devices. We actively engaged in several industry-wide initiatives to accelerate the industry’s transformation towards circularity. We worked with the Global System for Mobile Communications Association (‘GSMA’) and EU operators to develop an approach to standardise labelling for refurbished smartphones. These collaborations demonstrate our commitment to driving industry-wide progress on circularity and carbon reduction.
Since 2022, we have partnered with the World Wide Fund for Nature (‘WWF’) to collect 1 million used mobile phone devices for reuse, recycling or donation. We are proud to announce that we have now successfully reached 1 million collected devices. We also leveraged our partnership with WWF to put in place environmental initiatives across our markets. We implemented ‘zero waste’ stores in Greece, advanced research on consumer attitudes to device circularity in UK and Germany and trialled nature- tech solutions in South Africa to protect local biodiversity. Looking forward We aim to continue scaling our trade-in, refurbishment and insurance programmes. We will develop our second-life product offering to help reduce e-waste and support customer retention. We also aim to further integrate device care into our customer proposition, including enhanced repair services, encouraging customers to keep their devices for longer while generating incremental sales. We will continue embedding circularity into the lifecycle management of our branded products to minimise environmental impact, optimise resource use and deliver sustainable commercial growth.
Between five and ten billion mobile phones remain dormant in drawers across the world 1 . We are committed to helping our customers bring their used electronic devices back to us. We do so by providing channels and attractive propositions for product take-back and raising awareness to encourage greater participation. These channels not only reduce e-waste, but also support our commercial strategy by boosting customer retention, generating revenue and strengthening Vodafone’s reputation.
1 million used mobile phone devices collected for reuse, recycling or donation in partnership with WWF since 2022
Note: 1. GSMA,2023.
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