We are all hooked to our electronic gadgets. Be it a mobile phone, laptop, tablet, smart TV, or something else. The manufacturers exploit our cravings for them and keep tempting us with new models with “exclusive” features and breakthrough technology.

Social, print, and electronic media entice us with glossy advertisements, and consequently, we switch to a new model, carelessly throwing away the old one.

This phenomenon is particularly rampant in the smartphone segment. An average mobile phone user changes his handset every 18 months. There are many companies, and each company produces dozens of new mobile models every year. They target their audience with compelling marketing campaigns, and it is hard to resist the onslaught of such ads.

While the smartphone industry has shown exceptional growth due to our avarice and is now worth approx USD457.18 billion, there are some obvious downsides. One of them is the birth and exponential rise of e-waste.

Globally E-waste

E-waste is an umbrella term that means discarded consumer electronic devices. E-waste now constitutes 70% of our overall toxic waste. We now generate close to 40 million tons of e-waste globally. The rest either rots in a landfill or burns in incinerators. Either way, it produces toxins that pollute our air, water, and soil.

Pakistan is not immune to the problem of e-waste. The World Health Organization (WHO) states that Pakistan produced 433 kilotons of e-waste in 2021. Here, the issue of e-waste has another dimension.

The country imports e-waste from North American and European countries and recycles the usable components. The unused parts are carelessly thrown away and then burnt. It produces thick clouds of toxic fumes, further deteriorating our precarious air quality.

In such a bleak scenario. Wise Market entered the Pakistan market with a mission to recycle old, used, and dysfunctional phones. They make them usable. The process is usually referred to as refurbishment, and Wise Market is already successfully selling refurbished phones in Australia, New Zealand, and the UAE.

Connected Pakistan Conference

The Pakistani public needs to be educated about refurbished phones and the dangers of e-waste. By preferring to buy a refurbished phone over a new one, the public can lessen the creation of e-waste and reduce the carbon footprint generated by producing a new one.

With this in mind, Wise Market decided to participate in the Connected Pakistan Conference held at the University of South Asia. It has always been a well-attended event, and Wise Market could use it to its advantage by spreading awareness about refurbished phones, the horrors of e-waste, and how to tackle it by adopting the use of refurbished phones.

Mr. Bilal Zahid, the CEO of Wise Market, Pakistan, prepared his speech to make a commoner realize that he can make a difference. He needs to understand that the incessant culture of buying new phones has an environmental cost, and we are all paying its price.

Mr. Bilal did not have a lot of time at his disposal. He needed to drive his message home, achieving his aim with flying colors. The public appreciated his speech tremendously and received wide applause during its delivery.

The ending of the speech was its high point. The audience applauded when Mr. Bilal enthusiastically announced that Wise Market would plant a sapling for every order it would get in the following year. It is a lofty ambition and one which we all must support wholeheartedly.

Wise Market is committed to a clean and green environment. It shares everyone’s concern for environmental degradation and wants to play its part in mitigating and managing it. We all need to popularize and even normalize the use of refurbished phones.

Using a refurbished phone will reduce the demand for a new phone. Collectively, it can make a huge impact. There is a direct link between the production of new phones and the growth of e-waste. We need to understand this and take corrective measures. The time to act is now.