Every refurbished device saves the planet — and your wallet.
Making a single new laptop or phone releases as much CO₂ as driving hundreds of kilometres. Buying refurbished re-uses that manufacturing instead of repeating it — and costs 30–75% less than buying new.
- 🌿 ~70 kg CO₂ saved per device vs buying new
- ⚡ ~80% less energy than manufacturing new
- ♻️ 3–5 yrs of extra working life for every device we renew
Key takeaways
- Buying a refurbished device saves roughly 70 kg of CO₂ compared with manufacturing a new one.
- Refurbishing uses about a fifth of the energy of new manufacturing — no new mining, no new smelting, no new fabrication.
- India generates over 3 million tonnes of e-waste a year and formally recycles only around a fifth of it.
India's e-waste problem, and why it matters to you
India is among the world's largest producers of electronic waste, at more than 3 million tonnes a year — and only about a fifth of it goes through formal recycling.
The rest ends up in landfill or in informal yards where circuit boards are burned and chips dissolved in acid, releasing mercury, lead and cadmium into the air and groundwater around them.
What is e-waste?
Any discarded electrical or electronic device — phones, laptops, monitors, chargers. It holds toxic materials such as lead, mercury and cadmium that leach into soil when landfilled, and valuable ones — gold, silver, copper, lithium, cobalt — that can be recovered and reused.
A device sitting unused in a drawer is a ticking clock: electronics lose 15–20% of their value every six months, and the rare metals inside are finite and expensive to mine.
Refurbished vs brand new
| Impact area | 🌿 Refurbished | 🏭 Brand new |
|---|---|---|
| CO₂ emissions | ~10–15 kg | ~70–80 kg |
| Energy to produce | ~20% of new | 100% (baseline) |
| Water consumption | Near zero — components reused | Thousands of litres |
| Mining impact | None — nothing newly extracted | Cobalt, lithium and rare earths mined new |
| Price | Below the price of new | Full retail price |
| Working life added | +3–5 years | None — a new unit is manufactured |
Figures are typical ranges for a phone or laptop across its manufacturing life-cycle and are rounded; the exact saving depends on the device and how it was made.
The environmental benefits of buying refurbished
Every refurbished device sold is one less device manufactured from scratch — less mining, less factory energy, less carbon, and less e-waste in landfill.
Cuts CO₂ by ~70 kg
Manufacturing a new device emits on the order of 70 kg of CO₂. A refurbished one emits a small fraction of that — about the same as skipping ten long car journeys.
Around 80% less energy
Renewing a device takes roughly a fifth of the energy of building one new — that much less electricity, water and industrial input consumed.
No new mining
Phones and laptops contain cobalt, lithium and rare-earth metals. Buying refurbished means nothing is newly extracted, protecting the ecosystems and communities near mines.
3–5 more years of use
A professionally refurbished device works for years more. Every extra year in use is a year it stays out of the waste stream.
The circular economy in action
Instead of the linear make → use → discard model, Refubly recovers value from used devices, refurbishes and tests them, and puts them back into use — reducing reliance on virgin manufacturing and keeping working electronics in circulation.
Tested quality, not just second-hand
Every device we sell goes through a rigorous quality check — display, battery health, ports, cameras, keyboard, speakers and all physical components — and is graded transparently by condition before you buy. It is repaired where needed, factory reset, cleaned, and sold with warranty and secure checkout.
Our mission is simple: give every device a second life, cut the e-waste our markets produce, and make quality electronics affordable for everyone. Read more about Refubly.
Frequently asked questions
Is buying refurbished good for the environment?
Yes — significantly. Choosing a refurbished device over a new one saves on the order of 70 kg of CO₂, uses about 80% less energy and needs no newly mined cobalt, lithium or rare earths. It also keeps a working device out of landfill, where it would leach toxic materials into soil and water.
How much CO₂ does making a new device produce?
Manufacturing a new smartphone or laptop produces tens of kilograms of CO₂ — roughly the emissions of a few hundred kilometres in a petrol car — mostly from mining raw materials, smelting metals and powering chip fabrication. A refurbished device only needs renewal and testing, a small fraction of that footprint.
What happens to devices that are not sold or recycled?
They typically end up in informal e-waste yards, where boards are burned and components dissolved in acid, or in landfill, where heavy metals leach into groundwater for decades. Only a small share of e-waste is formally recycled; the rest is unaccounted for.
Is a refurbished device the same as a second-hand one?
No. A second-hand device is sold as-is, untested and without warranty. A refurbished device has been professionally inspected, repaired where needed, cleaned, tested against a quality standard, graded by condition and sold with warranty.
Where does the "~70 kg" figure come from?
It is a rounded, order-of-magnitude estimate of the manufacturing emissions a refurbished purchase avoids, based on published life-cycle figures for phones and laptops. The saving for any specific device varies with its size and how it was made, which is why it is shown as an approximation.
Ready to make the greener choice?
Every Refubly device is tested, graded, warrantied and saves ~70 kg of CO₂ against buying new.