Mazuma – United Kingdom
Source: Ellen Macarthur Foundation Website: Mazuma
The challenge
Until a couple of years ago, mobile phones typically used to end up in a drawer. Eventually, the drawers were bound to fill up and end up in a landfill.
The service
Mazuma Mobile is an online mobile phone reuse and recycling service allowing consumers to unlock the cash value of their mobile phones, offering same day payments. Collected handsets are refurbished by an external partner where necessary and then sold to partners in emerging markets, insurance dealers and retailers in UK. Insurance companies in particular find them an economic way to replace lost, broken or stolen phones while discouraging fraud. The small proportion of phones that do not work are recycled for materials.
The result
Of the 50,000 to 150,000 phones received every month, the large majority can be reused.
In 2011, Mazuma Mobile became the first company of its type to pay out £100 million to its customers.
New market creation: When Mazuma started, they were one of only three players. Today, there are around 50+ companies offering this type of services in the UK.
Similar services in Greece
Similar services to the ones Mazuma offers are provided in Greece by retailers of mobile phone devices. However, the variety of phone models accepted is still limited and in most cases, a necessary requirement is that the phone are still working.