Want to know how you can make the most sustainable phone calls possible? Then you've come to the right place! Even though smartphones have become an integral part of our everyday lives, their production is often anything but environmentally and socially responsible. What's more, most people only use it for a short time and then buy a new one. On average, this is already after 1-2 years the case.
It's time to find an environmentally conscious way of using your cell phone and ensure that a single device serves its purpose for as long as possible and conserves resources - don't you think?
I myself have been using my cell phone for 6 years now and it still works perfectly! In this article, I'll show you how this is possible - and how you can use your smartphone sustainably. Let's go!
13 tips for using your smartphone sustainably
To be honest, I don't want to keep you for long. Let's start simply and directly - with a short loading time, so to speak - with the Tips and tricks for sustainable telephony and the environmentally friendly use of smartphones.
So much in advance: Making sustainable phone calls is really easy once you've internalized why it's important - and you'll learn that in the text too 🙂
1. value your own phone
Every smartphone has its own story - for example rare earths such as coltan, tin and gold. Especially the Mining coltan in the Congo finds under life-threatening conditions and rarely without child labor takes place. There are no health and safety regulations there. And the consequences of the run on the highly sought-after raw materials are often wars.
So appreciate how lucky you are to have a smartphone in your hands at all. This Mindset is a great basis for using your smartphone more consciously and for longer.
2. repair your cell phone instead of buying a new one
Many Devices are built to break faster than necessary and that users can't change much about the hardware. If you want to use your cell phone sustainably, then you should at least have the chance to fix it yourself. When buying, make sure that the battery and display are easy to replace.
Do you have two left hands? Then you can also rely on a Repair service who will take care of your cell phone. Please don't be tempted to take the easy route of buying a new phone - because that doesn't belong in the category of "sustainable telephony".
3. protect and care for your smartphone for a long service life
Unfortunately, many people are already used to replacing their (usually still functional) cell phone after 18 to 24 months. However, sustainable telephony includes The deliberate goal of the longest possible service life. After all, the extraction of resources should have been worthwhile.
So when your contract expires after 2 years, don't just choose the new smartphone across the board, but rather the credit note that is often offered. With a cell phone with a contract, you must You don't necessarily have to give it back. It is often possible to conclude a contract on favorable terms, with which Use your familiar cell phone beyond the contract term leaves. If you take good care of it, for example with a protective smartphone case, your phone will still be in good shape anyway.
Tip: If a provider does not offer the credit on its own initiative, you can also simply ask.
4. motivate your company to communicate in a climate-neutral way
The larger the company, the more energy it generally consumes. Especially through phone calls. Very few people care about this - but there are environmentally friendly provider for business telecommunicationswhich deliberately focuses on CO2 neutrality and the use of green electricity, Paper saving and additional environmental services.
Tip: For all self-employed people and those who want to become self-employed, I would like to recommend the article on sustainable foundation.
5. get yourself a Fairphone
Normally, the production of cell phones is not particularly transparent - for the reasons just described. The Dutch company Fairphone does it differently and produces robust, durable, fairly produced and traded smartphones - i.e. without the morally questionable background.
But it doesn't necessarily have to be the Fairphone. When buying, just make sure that your smartphone produced as fairly as possible consumes little energy and can also be repaired by yourself.
Tip: How else you conserve resources in everyday life I'll show you how to do this in a separate article. Feel free to click in there too!
6. switch to a fair mobile provider
Logically, there are now also fair and environmentally friendly mobile phone providers. Goood aims for example to a Sustainable social development off. The team will therefore donate 10 percent of your basic fee to a good cause of your choice.
Sustainable telephony also enables the StartUp Wetell. The team actively fights against the Climate Change as well as a lack of transparency and data misuse on the mobile communications market.
7. dispose old cell phone environmentally friendly
Before you carelessly throw it in the household waste, where it obviously doesn't belong, you should send your old smartphone to Hobbyist:inside sell. And if it still works, you're sure to make another person happy with it, even if its best days are already behind it.
If it has absolutely "given up the ghost" and is unusable in every respect, you should return it properly to the Recycling yard or a Electronics store deliver.
Or even better: You can use your also send your old cell phone to NABU or hand them in at a NABU collection point. The money from the recycling then goes directly into our own insect protection fund.
8. save the battery of your smartphone
Protect the battery from extreme cold and heat. Turn off your cell phone when you sleep. And only charge it when it needs charging. So don't charge it all night long after it's full - this also saves the battery.
Good to know: Closing active background applications on the smartphone does not extend the battery life, by the way. On the contrary: it can even have a negative effect on the battery.
9. prefer a phone with replaceable battery
The more often you use your smartphone, the sooner the battery loses its performance. At some point, the time will comewhen you instinctively look around for a new cell phone.
If you want to use your smartphone sustainably, then However, the replacement of the battery is usually sufficientso that the device runs like new again. If you made sure that the battery is replaceable when you bought it, you can play this card now 🙂
10. use the internet in an environmentally conscious way
Yes, you heard right: you can not only make sustainable phone calls, but also surf the internet sustainably. Here are some tips in fast forward:
- Use a sustainable search engine like Ecosia (it plants trees!)
- Search directly in the search engine and not via the browser bar
- Send download links rather than large files
11. switch to a green electricity tariff
Whether landline or smartphone - phones need power! The juice you use to charge your phone should of course also come from renewable energies and not from destructive coal or nuclear power.
Green electricity, for example, comes from infinite energy sources such as wind, water or solar power. The Switching to a green electricity provider only takes 5 minutes - and you often save money too.
12. install environmentally friendly apps on your smartphone
After all, the cool thing about a smartphone is that it's has more to it than making phone calls and texting. There are now a lot of apps that can help you with the sustainable life even easier.
You can install the following apps, for example:
- Too Good To Go against food waste.
- Happy Cow, to quickly find restaurants with vegan dishes.
- Vintedto get used but great fashion at low prices and save resources.
Tip: Also around to stop smoking there are useful apps. Just take a look at the linked article if you want to know more 🙂
13. make other things superfluous with your smartphone
Think and live a little more minimalist - Your cell phone will also help you! Because for me, sustainable telephoning also includes replace as many things as possible with it.
If you have a smartphone, for example, you don't need to buy the following items:
- Digital camera
- Navigation device
- MP3 player
- Spirit level
- Gym
- Notepad
- …
This list could be so much longer. What I'm trying to say is that Various functions of your smartphone used for as long as possible on sustainable way to save money and conserve natural resources.
Can you think of any other things? Then just write me a comment with your ideas!
Making sustainable calls is so easy!
As you can see, anyone can really use their smartphone sustainably. As production today unfortunately often still entails social dangers and ecological consequences, we should all do this together.
Fortunately, you now know how to do this - and have plenty of tips at hand to use your cell phone in a more environmentally friendly and conscious way and to use it for as long as possible.
"Be yourself the change you wish to see in this world."
Mahatma Gandhi (more at Environmental protection quotes)
I hope you were able to take some things away from this post. Do you have any questions or suggestions on the subject of sustainable telephony? Then always bring them to me in the comments.
Stay sustainable and open to new ideas,
PS: Similar to the production of smartphones, flying by plane also has a considerable environmental impact. Did you know that you fly more sustainably and at least offset your greenhouse gas emissions with a compensation payment? In the article about the CO2 compensation you can learn more about it.
