Appendix

Appendix 1 : Ecoinvent processes

Table A1 List of ecoinvent 3.10 processes used in the GHG reduction quantification model

Device typeEcoinvent activity

consumer electronics production, mobile device, smartphone | consumer electronics, mobile device, smartphone | Cutoff, U, GLO

Tablet*

consumer electronics production, mobile device, tablet | consumer electronics, mobile device, tablet | Cutoff, U, GLO

PC**

computer production, desktop, without screen | computer, desktop, without screen | Cutoff, U, GLO

Laptop*

computer production, laptop | computer, laptop | Cutoff, U, GLO

Screen

display production, liquid crystal, 17 inches | display, liquid crystal, 17 inches | Cutoff, U, GLO

Transport, truck

market for transport, freight, lorry 7.5-16 metric ton, EURO5 | transport, freight, lorry 7.5-16 metric ton, EURO5 | Cutoff, U, RER

Transport, air

market for transport, freight, aircraft, long haul | transport, freight, aircraft, long haul | Cutoff, U, GLO

Smartphone recycling

treatment of used smartphone, mechanical treatment | used smartphone | Cutoff, U, GLO

Tablet recycling

treatment of used tablet, mechanical treatment | used tablet | Cutoff, U, GLO

PC recycling

treatment of used desktop computer, mechanical treatment | used desktop computer | Cutoff, U, GLO

Laptop recycling

treatment of used laptop computer, mechanical treatment | used laptop computer | Cutoff, U, GLO

Screen recycling

treatment of used liquid crystal display, mechanical treatment | used liquid crystal display | Cutoff, U, GLO

Light refurbishing***

  • market for ethanol, without water, in 99.7% solution state, from ethylene | ethanol, without water, in 99.7% solution state, from ethylene | Cutoff, U, RER

  • market for water, completely softened | water, completely softened | Cutoff, U, RER

  • market for tissue paper | tissue paper | Cutoff, U, GLO

  • market for textile, knit cotton | textile, knit cotton | Cutoff, U, GLO

Full refurbishing

  • market for ethanol, without water, in 99.7% solution state, from ethylene | ethanol, without water, in 99.7% solution state, from ethylene | Cutoff, U, RER (0.007 kg)

  • market for water, completely softened | water, completely softened | Cutoff, U, RER (0.003 kg)

  • market for tissue paper | tissue paper | Cutoff, U, GLO (0.005 kg)

  • market for textile, knit cotton | textile, knit cotton | Cutoff, U, GLO (0.005 kg)

  • market for battery, Li-ion, NCA, rechargeable, prismatic | Cutoff, U, GLO (0.1 kg)

  • market for electronic component, passive, mobile, earpiece and speaker | Cutoff, U, GLO (0.002 kg)

  • market for liquid crystal display, unmounted, mobile device | Cutoff, U, GLO (0.1 kg)

E-waste incineration

  • treatment of waste glass, municipal incineration | waste glass | Cutoff, U, GLO = 10%

  • treatment of waste plastic, consumer electronics, municipal incineration | waste plastic, consumer electronics | Cutoff, U, GLO = 50%

  • treatment of scrap copper, municipal incineration | scrap copper | Cutoff, U, Europe without Switzerland = 20%

  • treatment of scrap aluminum, municipal incineration | scrap aluminum | Cutoff, U, Europe without Switzerland= 20%

E-waste landfill

  • treatment of waste plastic, mixture, sanitary landfill | waste plastic, mixture | Cutoff, U, RoW = 50%

  • treatment of waste glass, sanitary landfill | waste glass l Cutoff, U, GLO = 10%

  • treatment of waste aluminum, sanitary landfill | waste aluminum | Cutoff, U, RoW = 40%

*removed the power adapter production and waste treatment, and the device waste treatment

**removed the device waste treatment

***amount of each input varies by device type, and values were taken from the ADEME study (see the Light refurbishing section)

Appendix 2: Emission factors of Apple devices

Table A2 Mass and GHG emissions from production for iPhones gathered from Apple Product Environmental Reports, for a selection of recent models.

YearModelMemory (GB)Mass (kg)EF (kgCO2e)Production (%)EF production (kgCO2e)Source

2022

14

128

0.172

61

79%

48

2022

14

256

0.172

67

79%

53

2022

14

512

0.172

83

79%

66

2022

14 plus

128

0.203

68

78%

53

2022

14 plus

256

0.203

75

78%

59

2022

14 plus

512

0.203

91

78%

71

2022

14 pro

128

0.206

65

81%

53

2022

14 pro

256

0.206

71

81%

58

2022

14 pro

512

0.206

84

81%

68

2022

14 pro

1TB

0.206

116

81%

94

2022

14 pro max

128

0.240

73

79%

58

2022

14 pro max

256

0.240

80

79%

63

2022

14 pro max

512

0.240

93

79%

73

2022

14 pro max

1TB

0.240

124

79%

98

2023

15

128

0.171

56

80%

45

2023

15

256

0.171

61

80%

49

2023

15

512

0.171

74

80%

59

2023

15 plus

128

0.201

61

79%

48

2023

15 plus

256

0.201

66

79%

52

2023

15 plus

512

0.201

79

79%

62

2023

15 pro

128

0.187

66

83%

55

2023

15 pro

256

0.187

71

83%

59

2023

15 pro

512

0.187

83

83%

69

2023

15 pro

1TB

0.187

107

83%

89

2023

15 pro max

256

0.221

75

83%

62

2023

15 pro max

512

0.221

87

83%

72

2023

15 pro max

1TB

0.221

110

83%

9

Mean

64

Median

59

Standard Deviation

14.6

Coefficient of variation (Standard Deviation/Mean) (%)

22.8%

Table A3 Mass and GHG emissions from production for iPads gathered from Apple Product Environmental Reports, for a selection of recent models

Year

Model

Memory (GB)

Mass (kg)

EF (kgCO2e)

Production (%)

EF production (kgCO2e)

Source

2021

9th gen.

64

0.487

75

78%

59

2021

9th gen.

128

0.487

78

78%

61

2021

9th gen.

256

0.487

84

78%

66

2022

10th gen.

64

0.477

72

78%

56

2022

10th gen.

256

0.477

82

78%

64

2023

no iPad launched*

Mean

61

Median

61

Standard Deviation

3.8

Coefficient of variation (Standard Deviation/Mean) (%)

6.29%

*2021 is also considered in the average iPad emissions to have a bigger sample

Table A4 Mass and GHG emissions from production for MacBooks gathered from Apple Product Environmental Reports, for a selection of recent models

Year

Model

Memory (GB)

Mass (kg)

EF (kgCO2e)

Production (%)

EF production (kgCO2e)

Source

2022

MacBook Air M2 chip

256

1.24

147

69%

101

2022

MacBook Air M2 chip

512

1.24

171

69%

118

2022

13-inch MacBook Pro

256

1.4

167

71%

119

2022

13-inch MacBook Pro

512

1.4

182

71%

129

2023

16-inch MacBook Pro

M3 Pro 512GB

2.15

290

67%

194

16-inch MacBook Pro

M3 Max 1TB

2.16

348

72%

251

14-inch MacBook Pro

M2 Pro 512GB

1.6

243

79%

192

14-inch MacBook Pro

M2 Pro 1T

1.6

272

79%

215

14-inch MacBook Pro

M2 Max 1TB

1.63

301

79%

238

MacBook Air 15-inch M2 chip

256

1.51

139

73%

101

MacBook Air 15-inch M2 chip

512

1.51

152

73%

111

Mean

161

Median

129

Standard Deviation

57.6

Coefficient of variation (Standard Deviation/Mean) (%)

35.8%

Table A5 Mass and GHG emissions from production for iMacs gathered from Apple Product Environmental Reports, for a selection of recent models

Year

Model

Memory (GB)

Mass (kg)

EF (kgCO2e)

Production (%)

EF production (kgCO2e)

Source

2021

iMac (24 inches)

M1 7-core GPU 256GB

4.47

481

45%

216

2021

iMac (24 inches)

M1 8-core GPU 256GB

4.47

486

45%

219

2021

iMac (24 inches)

M1 8-core GPU 512GB

4.47

511

45%

230

2022

no iMac launched

2023

iMac (two ports)

256

4.43

359

52%

187

2023

iMac (four ports)

512

4.48

389

52%

202

Mean

211

Median

216

Standard Deviation

16.7

Coefficient of variation (Standard Deviation/Mean) (%)

7.92%

Appendix 3: Refurbishing Impact Ratio

Table A6 The Refurbishing Impact Ratio is calculated by dividing the Results refurbished device column by the Results new device column. This fraction is then applied to the emission factors for new device impacts used in this study to obtain the emissions from the refurbishing process (Table 3).

Device type

Results new device (kgCO2eq)

Results refurbished device (kgCO2eq)

Refurbishing Impact Ratio

Source

Smartphone

84

7

8%

Tablet

74

9

12%

Laptop

168

18

11%

PC

256

26

10%

Screen

212

22

10%

The following equation is used to solve Rfull ref.iR_{full\ ref.i}, which represents the rate of full refurbishment activities modeled per device type i. This reflects the “amount” of refurbishment used as an input for that device. This is used in Equation 9 and Equation 18. Its values for each device type are presented in Table A7.

Emissions refurbishedi (kgCO2eq) = EFFull refurbishing  Rfull ref.iEmissions\ refurbished_i\ (kgCO_2 eq)\ = \ EF_{Full\ refurbishing}\ *\ R_{full\ ref.i}

where,

  • Emissions\ refurbished_i\ (kgCO_2 eq)\represents the GHG emissions due to the full refurbishing of a device type i. These values have been calculated using secondary data and are summarized in Table 3.

  • EFFull refurbishingEF_{Full\ refurbishing} represents the emission factor of the full refurbishing process, which is composed of a mix of replacement parts and cleaning supplies, and is detailed in Appendix 1.

Table A7 The amount of full refurbishment activity input to each device type to obtain the desired emission factor for refurbished devices, as presented in Table 3. Calculated by dividing the desired emission factor for refurbished devices by the emission factor for one full refurbishment activity. The full refurbishment activity is described in Appendix 1.

Device type

Rate of full refurbishment

Smartphone

0.77

Tablet

1.92

Laptop

3.47

Screen

6.94

PC

3.61

Macbook

3.29

iPhone

1.00

iMac

4.00

iPad

1.35

Appendix 4: WEEE statistics

Table A8 The national WEEE waste treatment rates are summarized. Sources are indicated in the column names. Percent of all small IT e-waste that is recycled/reused (column 3) was calculated by multiplying the Percent small IT e-waste separately collected (column 1) by Percent of separately collected small IT e-waste that is recycled/reused (column 2). Percent of all small IT e-waste in municipal waste stream (column 4) was calculated by subtracting Percent of all small IT e-waste that is recycled/reused (column 3) from 100%. Note that when percentages were >100, they were automatically set to 100.

Country

Europe average

72%

79%

56%

44%

Belgium

100%

80%

80%

20%

Bulgaria

79%

85%

68%

32%

Czechia

57%

100%

57%

43%

Denmark

38%

83%

32%

68%

Germany

89%

85%

75%

25%

Estonia

74%

84%

62%

38%

Ireland

59%

86%

50%

50%

Greece

49%

60%

29%

71%

Spain

62%

68%

42%

58%

France

91%

73%

67%

33%

Croatia

60%

88%

52%

48%

Italy

44%

62%

27%

73%

Cyprus

75%

91%

68%

32%

Latvia

54%

77%

41%

59%

Lithuania

80%

77%

61%

39%

Luxembourg

64%

87%

56%

44%

Hungary

53%

77%

41%

59%

Malta

No data

Netherlands

77%

72%

55%

45%

Austria

96%

75%

73%

27%

Poland

No data

Portugal

82%

22%

18%

82%

Romania

No data

Slovenia

100%

90%

90%

10%

Slovakia

91%

92%

84%

16%

Finland

63%

95%

59%

41%

Sweden

53%

84%

45%

55%

Iceland

No data

Liechtenstein

No data

Norway

100%

77%

77%

23%

NA

NA

23%

77%

NA

NA

82%

18%

NA

NA

25%

75%

Appendix 5: Ecoinvent activity smartphone changes

  • Smartphones are the most frequently refurbished device type, so avoided emission calculations are particularly sensitive to their emission factor

  • Many , and do not represent the expected emissions of replaced/avoided devices on the market today. , which is based on data from the Fairphone 1 released in 2014.

A comparison of detailed life cycle inventories was the preferred approach, but was not possible due to a lack of transparent data on smartphone composition. Notably, the amounts of the most impactful smartphone components (mainboard, printed wiring boards, and integrated circuits) could not be found to adjust inputs to the ecoinvent process.

Instead, smartphone manufacturing emission factors were summarized for the (released 2022-2024) , and had publicly available LCAs.

For Apple iPhones (devices with most sales globally), the identified values are presented in Table A2, with an average of 64±15 kg CO2eq/device. Emission factors for other smartphones are summarized in the table below, and show an average emission factor of 49±13 kg CO2eq/device. These values shall be used for the emission factors for iPhones and other smartphones, respectively.

These values are around 25-50% greater than the smartphone production emission factor from ecoinvent 3.10.

To implement this change in the model, the amount of key inputs (mainboard, printed wiring boards, and integrated circuits) in the ecoinvent smartphone process was increased to reach the desired final emission factor.

Additionally, exchanges for the charger production, smartphone waste treatment, and cable waste treatment were removed from the process, to align with the project system boundaries.

Table A9 The non-Apple GHG emissions from manufacturing of smartphones gathered from manufacturer environmental reports, for a selection of recent and popular smartphone models. EF stands for emission factor.

Year

Model

EF (kgCO2e)

% manufacturing

EF manufacturing (kgCO2e)

Source

2023

Galaxy

A14

42.5

78%

33.20

2023

Galaxy

A54

49.2

69%

33.90

2023

Galaxy

S23 FE

47.5

79%

37.50

2023

Galaxy

S23

53

85%

45.00

2023

Galaxy

S23+

58.8

84%

49.22

2023

Galaxy

S23 Ultra

70.6

85%

60.22

2024

Galaxy

S24 Ultra

66.4

86%

56.90

2024

Galaxy

S24+

54.8

85%

46.47

2024

Galaxy

S24

50.3

84%

42.25

2022

Huawei

Mate 50 Pro

81

88%

71.33

2022

Huawei

Mate 50

75.3

88%

65.95

Appendix 6: Market share of new and used devices

The market share of new and used devices sold annually in Europe was used to determine the repartition of avoided new and refurbished devices in the baseline scenario. Most data were available for smartphones, taken from survey responses from 2022, and are presented in Table A10. The average values used for the GHG reduction quantification are a market share of 13% for refurbished smartphones, and 87% for new smartphones, as shown in Table 5.

Table A10 Breakdown of refurbished and new smartphones sold in European countries in 2022.

Country

Percent Refurbished

Percent new

Source

France

19%

81%

UK

16%

84%

Austria

15%

85%

Germany

15%

85%

Scandanavia

12%

88%

The Netherlands

11%

89%

Poland

10%

90%

Belgium

9%

91%

Italy

7%

93%

Average

13%

87%

Similar detailed data were not available for other device types. Survey responses on the interest in buying a given refurbished device type were used to adjust the smartphone data in Table A10 proportionally to other device types (Table A11). The results from PCs were applied to laptops, and the results for TVs were used as a proxy for screens.

Table A11 Survey results asking respondents if they would be interested in buying the device type refurbished are summarized. The ratio of the results for smartphones compared to other device types was used to proportionally adjust the average percentage of refurbished smartphones gathered in Table A10.

Device type

Percent Refurbished

Percent new

Smartphone

59%

13%

87%

PC

35%

8%

92%

Tablet

34%

7%

93%

TV

28%

6%

94%

Appendix 7: Residual value calculations

The devices considered were the and and . New prices were taken from the manufacturer’s website where available, or from the manufacturer’s store on Amazon. In both cases, French sources were used. Average buyback prices were shared with Riverse by Project Developers. Prices reflect annual buyback price for that device category, for devices from Europe, in 2023.

Table A12 Sample prices for a new Apple iPhone.

Model

New Price (€)

iPhone 14, 128 GB

€869

iPhone 14, 256 GB

€999

iPhone 14, 512 GB

€1,249

iPhone 14 plus, 128 GB

€969

iPhone 14 plus, 256 GB

€1,099

iPhone 14 plus, 512 GB

€1,349

iPhone 14 pro, 128 GB

€1,102

iPhone 14 pro, 256 GB

€1,235

iPhone 14 pro, 512 GB

€1,490

iPhone 14 pro, 1TB GB

€1,721

iPhone 14 pro max, 128 GB

€1,249

iPhone 14 pro max, 256 GB

€1,399

iPhone 14 pro max, 512 GB

€1,599

iPhone 14 pro max, 1TB GB

€1,699

iPhone 15, 128 GB

€969

iPhone 15, 256 GB

€1,099

iPhone 15, 512 GB

€1,349

iPhone 15 plus, 128 GB

€1,119

iPhone 15 plus, 256 GB

€1,249

iPhone 15 plus, 512 GB

€1,499

iPhone 15 pro, 128 GB

€1,229

iPhone 15 pro, 256 GB

€1,359

iPhone 15 pro, 512 GB

€1,609

iPhone 15 pro, 1TB GB

€1,859

iPhone 15 pro max, 256 GB

€1,479

iPhone 15 pro max, 512 GB

€1,729

iPhone 15 pro max, 1TB GB

€1,979

iPhone summary

Average new

€1,354

Average buyback

€186

Residual value

13.7%

Table A13 Sample prices for a new Samsung smartphone.

Model

New Price (€)

Samsung Galaxy A14 4G, 64 GB

€132

Samsung Galaxy A14 4G, 128 GB

€128

Samsung Galaxy A14 5G, 64 GB

€176

Samsung Galaxy A14 5G, 128 GB

€256

Samsung Galaxy A34, 128 GB

€237

Samsung Galaxy A34, 256 GB

€286

Samsung Galaxy A54 5G, 128 GB

€309

Samsung Galaxy A54 5G, 256 GB

€410

Samsung Galaxy S23 FE, 128 GB

€699

Samsung Galaxy S23 FE, 256 GB

€759

Samsung Galaxy S23, 128 GB

€799

Samsung Galaxy S23, 256 GB

€859

Samsung Galaxy S23+, 256 GB

€919

Samsung Galaxy S23+, 512 GB

€993

Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra, 256 GB

€969

Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra, 512 GB

€1,039

Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra, 256 GB

€1,469

Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra, 512 GB

€1,589

Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra, 1 TB

€1,829

Samsung Galaxy S24, 128 GB

€899

Samsung Galaxy S24, 256 GB

€959

Samsung Galaxy S24+, 256 GB

€1,169

Samsung Galaxy S24+, 512 GB

€1,289

Smartphone summary

Average new

€790

Average buyback

€89

Residual value

11.3%

Table A14 Sample prices for a new Apple iPad.

Model

New Price (€)

iPad Pro 11 inch, 128 GB

€1,069

iPad Pro 11 inch, 256 GB

€1,199

iPad Pro 11 inch, 512 GB

€1,449

iPad Pro 11 inch, 1 TB

€1,949

iPad Pro 11 inch, 2 TB

€2,449

iPad Pro 12.9 inch, 128 GB

€1,469

iPad Pro 12.9 inch, 256 GB

€1,599

iPad Pro 12.9 inch, 512 GB

€1,849

iPad Pro 12.9 inch, 1 TB

€2,349

iPad Pro 12.9 inch, 2 TB

€2,849

iPad Air, 64 GB

€789

iPad Air, 256 GB

€989

iPad 10th gen, 64 GB

€589

iPad 10th gen, 256 GB

€789

iPad 9th gen, 64 GB

€439

iPad 9th gen, 256 GB

€639

iPad mini, 64 GB

€659

iPad mini, 256 GB

€859

iPad Pro 11 inch 5G, 128 GB

€1,269

iPad Pro 11 inch 5G, 256 GB

€1,399

iPad Pro 11 inch 5G, 512 GB

€1,649

iPad Pro 11 inch 5G, 1 TB

€2,149

iPad Pro 11 inch 5G, 2 TB

€2,649

iPad Pro 12.9 inch 5G, 128 GB

€1,669

iPad Pro 12.9 inch 5G, 256 GB

€1,799

iPad Pro 12.9 inch 5G, 512 GB

€2,049

iPad Pro 12.9 inch 5G, 1 TB

€2,544

iPad Pro 12.9 inch 5G, 2 TB

€3,044

iPad Air 5G, 64 GB

€989

iPad Air 5G, 256 GB

€1,189

iPad 10th gen 5G, 64 GB

€789

iPad 10th gen 5G, 256 GB

€989

iPad 9th gen 5G, 64 GB

€609

iPad 9th gen 5G, 256 GB

€809

iPad mini 5G, 64 GB

€859

iPad mini 5G, 256 GB

€1,059

iPad summary

Average new

€1,430

Average buyback

€170

Residual value

11.9%

Table A15 Sample prices for a new Samsung tablet.

Model

New Price (€)

Galaxy Tab S9, 128 GB

899

Galaxy Tab S9, 256 GB

949

Galaxy Tab S9+, 256 GB

1149

Galaxy Tab S9+, 512GB

1149

Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra, 256 GB

1249

Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra, 512 GB

1499

Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra, 1 TB

1749

Galaxy Tab S9 FE, 128 GB

529

Galaxy Tab S9 FE, 256 GB

599

Galaxy Tab S9 FE+, 128 GB

699

Galaxy Tab S9 FE+, 256 GB

799

Galaxy Tab A9, 64 GB

189

Galaxy Tab A9, 128 GB

219

Galaxy Tab A9+, 64 GB

259

Galaxy Tab A9+, 128 GB

299

Galaxy Tab S9 5G, 128 GB

1099

Galaxy Tab S9 5G, 256 GB

1079

Galaxy Tab S9+ 5G, 256 GB

1329

Galaxy Tab S9+ 5G, 512GB

1449

Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra 5G, 256 GB

1579

Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra 5G, 1 TB

1899

Galaxy Tab S9 FE 5G, 128 GB

629

Galaxy Tab S9 FE 5G, 256 GB

599

Galaxy Tab S9 FE+ 5G, 128 GB

799

Galaxy Tab S9 FE+ 5G, 256 GB

899

Galaxy Tab A9 4G, 64 GB

217

Galaxy Tab A9+ 5G, 64 GB

309

Galaxy Tab A9+ 5G, 128 GB

349

Tablet summary

Average new

€944

Average buyback

€185

Residual value

19.6%

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