Back Market Calls For Legally Mandated 10-Year Device Standard

Do you know how heavy your phone truly is?

A 200-gram smartphone requires more than 266 kilograms of raw materials extraction [1]. At a global scale, more than 319 million tonnes of upstream materials are extracted annually to manufacture the world’s smartphones alone [1], the equivalent of more than 900 Empire State Buildings [2] worth of material each year.

That extraction is compounded by a typical 2 to 2.5-year upgrade cycle. Today, Back Market is calling for a legally mandated 10-year device standard, covering durability, repairability and long-term software support, as an effective lever to reduce the extraction demand driving these costs. Keeping a smartphone in productive use for 10 years instead of 2.5 years can avoid approximately 757 kilograms of raw material extraction per device [3].

Research [4] suggests that once people understand what’s behind their technology, it changes how they think about what they buy and how long they expect it to last.

To build that understanding at scale, Back Market has launched Mine My Phone (www.minemyphone.com), a public-interest platform revealing the environmental, human and geopolitical costs behind modern devices. Think Patagonia’s Footprint Chronicles, but built towards a single outcome: public and regulatory support for a 10-year device standard.

The hidden costs of devices

Access to critical minerals is increasingly shaping international relations, trade policy and territorial security disputes, as nations compete to secure supply chains for the technologies of the future.

Every smartphone device carries an extraction footprint that is rarely visible to the people who buy it:

- A 200-gram smartphone requires more than 266 kilograms of raw material extraction [1].

- Globally, more than 319 million tonnes of upstream materials are extracted annually to manufacture smartphones [1].

- Up to 80% of a smartphone's lifetime carbon footprint occurs before it is ever switched on [5].

- Children as young as six have been found in artisanal mines sourcing critical minerals to the tech supply chain[6].

- 1.4 billion people[7] are at risk of diseases due to toxic metal pollution, with 23 million people[8] alone exposed to cancer-causing levels of toxic waste.

The awareness gap

The Smartphone Extraction Gap Report [4], a global consumer research study commissioned by Back Market and conducted by independent research agency Opinium, surveyed 6,000 consumers across France, the UK, Germany, the USA, Spain and Japan to understand what people know, and do not know, about what goes into their devices.

Key findings:

• More than half of respondents cannot name a single raw material inside their smartphone.

• Only one in four feel confident they know what goes into a device.

• Seven in ten have never investigated where the materials in their devices come from.

• 38% reported shock and 26% reported worry when learning that more than 200 suppliers are involved in a smartphone's journey from extraction to finished product.

• 66% of consumers globally support legislation requiring devices to remain durable, repairable and software-supported for at least 10 years.

• Seven in ten say evidence of child labour in a supply chain would impact their purchasing decisions.

• When informed that a single refurbished phone avoids approximately 243 kilograms of raw material extraction compared to manufacturing new, 49% [4] said they would be more likely to buy refurbished.

Mine My Phone: A public reference empowering citizens

Mine My Phone (www.minemyphone.com) is a public-interest educational platform created in collaboration with an international panel of experts, scientists, independent researchers and contributors.

Bringing together data, expert commentary and in-depth reporting on the extraction economy behind consumer technology, it reveals the environmental, human and geopolitical impacts of the critical mineral extraction required to make our devices.

The platform is designed as a public reference point to help people understand what lies behind their tech, make informed choices and act as empowered citizens.

“Citizens cannot make informed choices or push for regulation if they lack access to information about what happens before a device reaches their hands. This is fundamentally a transparency problem. We hope that Mine My Phone becomes a reference citizens use to understand what's behind their device, and a starting point for public and regulatory debate.”

Thibaud Hug de Larauze, Executive Chairman

Longevity as the lever: a 10-year device standard

Achieving a 10-year device standard requires coordinated action across three groups, not any single company:

• Manufacturers must design durable devices to last, with 10-year software support and accessible, replaceable parts.

• Policymakers must enforce Right to Repair and prohibit design practices that artificially shorten devices' lifespans.

• Circular economy actors must expand trusted, verified refurbishment at scale.

“If extraction is the cost of technology, longevity is the lever. No single company can create the 10-year device. It requires manufacturers to design differently, policymakers to legislate differently, and consumers to think differently about the technology they own.”

Marie Castelli, Head of Sustainability & Public Affairs at Back Market

Regulatory momentum across markets

Back Market is supporting device longevity legislation across its core markets:

• EU: calling for repair and reuse to be prioritised in future circular economy law.

• UK: securing parliamentary debate on smartphone upgrade cycles.

• USA: supporting state-level Right to Repair legislation requiring manufacturers to provide repair documentation, parts, tools and updates to owners and independent repair providers on fair and reasonable terms.

Building the coalition

No single company can mandate a 10-year device standard alone. Back Market is convening a coalition of manufacturers, policymakers and circular economy actors to advance this ambition, with founding partners to be announced ahead of Slow Tech Summit in Paris on 15 October, where the coalition takes its first public shape.

Slow Tech Summit - Paris, 15 October 2026

Back Market will convene a full day of panels, workshops and an exhibition revealing the extraction journey of new devices and the case for longevity, building the coalition for the 10-year device standard.

About Back Market

Back Market is a leading global marketplace dedicated to verified refurbished technology. Our mission is to create a world that does more with what we already have by prolonging the lifespan of electronic devices through circularity and repair.

Founded in Paris in 2014, the company has grown by double digits year over year. To date, more than 38 million refurbished devices have been sold on Back Market across 17 markets, avoiding 2.4 million tons of carbon emissions.

Notes to Editors

1. 1.2 billion smartphones (IDC's Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker). Making a 200 g smartphone requires 266.7 kg of materials extracted from the Earth — more than 1,000 times its weight. ADEME, EFL Consulting, DDemain, & Bureau Veritas. (2022). Assessment of the environmental impact of a set of refurbished products [Study, 152 pp.]. https://librairie.ademe.fr/economie-circulaire-et-dechets/5833-assessment-of-the-environmental-impact-of-a-set-of-refurbished-products.html

2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empire_State_Building

3. The calculation is based on ADEME 2022 study, which measures raw material cost per year of use.

4. The Smartphone Extraction Gap Report is a consumer perception study commissioned by Back Market and conducted by Opinium. 6,000 sample size, fielding dates 30th July - 12 August 2026. Weighted to be proportionate to gender, age and region. Respondents were sourced via an online research panel. This should be cited as brand-commissioned research and referenced separately from independent extraction-science sources. a. For citation purposes, the report may be referred to as the "Smartphone Extraction Gap Report" b. Full extraction-science citations available on request; a source list will accompany the final release. c. High-resolution imagery, b-roll and Slow Tech Summit accreditation details available on request.

5. Ferreboeuf, H., Efoui-Hess, M., & Verne, X. (2021, March). Environmental impacts of digital technology: 5-year trends and 5G governance: Updated prospective scenarios for the environmental impacts of global digital technology, and proposals for a rational 5G deployment [Analysis note]. The Shift Project.

6. ADEME 2024 estimates that artisanal and informal mining accounts for approximately 10–20% of global cobalt production. Child labour has been documented in some of these mines. The presence of child labour in Congolese cobalt mining has also been documented by multiple studies and investigations, including the following sources: UNICEF Democratic Republic of the Congo (2022). Secondary analysis of MICS 2018 data. Amnesty International & Afrewatch (2016). This Is What We Die For: Human Rights Abuses in the Democratic Republic of the Congo Power the Global Trade in Cobalt. AFR 62/3183/2016.

7. Science Journal 2025, Global soil pollution by toxic metals threatens agriculture and human health - https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adr5214

8. PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency (2024). Environmental impacts of extraction and processing of raw materials for the energy transition. PBL publication number: 5364. The Hague. https://www.pbl.nl/system/files/document/2024-02/PBL-2024-Environmental-impacts-of-extraction-and-processing-of-raw-materials-for-the-energy-transition-5364.pdf