How Back Market and Google are championing a Slow Tech revolution

“The fact Google was the one that reached out to us feels like a real turning point,” explains a smiling Joy Howard, the chief marketing officer at Back Market. “It shows that Big Tech has developed an awareness around e-waste and the negative impact software development choices can have on the obsolescence of hardware. We’re seeing something historical unfold here.”  

Howard was speaking backstage at Back Market’s alternative evening during Barcelona’s Mobile World Congress, the industry event that tends to celebrate the constant churn of upgrades associated with Fast Tech culture. Yet thanks to the coming together of Back Market and Google, Mobile World Congress now feels like the epicenter of a Slow Tech uprising, which has positive repercussions for us all.

“Now that performance updates for software can be developed over the cloud,” Howard adds, “it means the whole forced upgrade logic has been completely broken. This will only be a net positive for the planet, as it means we can make electronic devices live longer than ever before and try to finally stop a toxic global cycle.”

A new dawn  

Announced last week, Back Market, the leading marketplace for refurbished tech, and Google have partnered on a new global programme, which will be open to customers from March 30th. This will see Chrome OS Flex USB sticks sold on the Back Market website at a budget price (€3 in Europe, while £3 for UK and $3 in the US), while these will be distributed to sellers, buyers, schools, and small businesses for free at request (and after filling in an online form). These USB sticks house software that users can plug into their computer to automatically install Chrome OS Flex, Google’s cloud-based operating system that can run on many existing laptops or desktops. This means if a particular device has stopped receiving operating system support, its life can easily be extended. 

Maybe there was a time where the idea of a fast tech giant like Google coming together with Back Market, a brand synonymous with normalising the preservation of old devices, might have seemed unlikely and, well, even counter intuitive. However, Alexander Kuscher, senior director at Google, says this union is proof that the Fast Tech world is changing its focus. “The refurbished tech market [projected to exceed $272bn by 2031] is growing, so we’re seeing a big change in consumer behaviour and what they demand,” admits Kuscher.

“People are demanding that their devices get updates for longer, so what constitutes ‘old’ is fundamentally changing. You can feel this shift happening in real time, and Back Market personifies it as a brand. The Back Market’ mission of giving people access to information, and breathing new life into existing devices, fits very nicely with Google’s own future focus. This USB programme is about giving consumers an actionable step to ensure their devices live as long as possible.”

Stopping a toxic cycle

Already with one eye to the future, Kuscher suggests this partnership between the two brands might continue to grow: “I mean, there’s 380 million Windows 10 devices out there, which risk being made obsolete due to Microsoft stopping their OS support, and I’d love for as many of them to be ‘Flexed’ as possible. I believe there’s so many other categories of consumer electronics that would benefit from the work that Back Market and Google can do together.”

During the Mobile World Congress event announcing this partnership, the “toxic cycle” that Howard directly refers to was laid bare via the premiere of Back Market’s new documentary, Dandora: A Fast Tech Story. Depicting everyday life for workers at an e-waste dump in Kenya, the film shows how workers often breathe in toxic chemicals, risking it all just to process the mineral-rich parts of unwanted electronic devices, which have been prematurely written off by Western civilisation.

Science writer Gaia Vince spoke on a panel (which was geared towards imagining a post-Fast Tech world) at the Back Market and Google Mobile launch event at Mobile World Congress. She hopes the pair coming together can serve as a trigger, so that e-waste dumps like the one in Dandora, Kenya become less prevalent and more of a “source of shame” for international society. “I believe built-in obsolescence is a crime,” Vince says. “It is a crime against society, and it is a crime against the environment, because we all bear those costs.”

The world generated more than 62 million metric tons of electronic waste in 2022, according to the United Nations’ Institute for Training and Research, and that volume is growing five times faster than the amount formally collected and recycled. Every device replaced before it truly needs to be will add pressure to landfills, supply chains, and the strategic resources required to build new hardware.

A collective re-assessment on Fast Tech

“For a long time now, we’ve been going through this very bloated, greedy phase of consumers being sold constant upgrades and being trained to want the latest thing,” Vince adds. “But with this type of partnership between Google and Back Market, well, it feels like it’s part of a collective re-assessment over what is going on. Even though e-waste represents 5% of landfill mass for global waste levels, it’s 70% of global waste toxicity, so it’s important we act now!”

One of the crucial elements of this partnership is how Google and BackMarket are potentially bringing the Chrome OS Flex USB sticks into schools and colleges, which otherwise would have persisted with old hardware. Google’s Kuscher says this kind of move can take some of the classism out of Fast Tech, which tends to punish individuals and institutions that are unable to afford to upgrade their technological equipment, subsequently persisting with old operating systems that aren’t fit for purpose. The low price point of the USBs makes them accessible for all. 

“The user and the customer deserve access to secure operating systems, which are affordable and accessible,” he adds.  “I think that's why we’ve
actually had so much success with Chromebooks in education, 
because 
we 
really 
drove 
down 
the 
price and ensured that you get a good 
experience. However, I think 
Flex and Back Market takes all this to the
next 
level, because this partnership is potentially benefitting NGOs and schools.

“It’s showing that hardware is no longer one and done. Through our collaboration with Back Market, we’re making it clear we have a responsibility to students and employees and to keep the devices they are using to learn alive for a much longer time.” So, now that Google is on side with Back Market, what comes next? For Back Market’s Howard, the sky is the limit, and she’d now like to work with other Fast Tech brands - whether that’s an Apple or a Samsung - to ensure they’re evolving to fit more into a refurbished tech-driven society.

“With the Google partnership, we’re starting to think of Back Market more like a healer,” Howard concludes. “To heal anything, you first have to acknowledge there’s a problem, right? Now we’ve got Google acknowledging the problem, why can’t we get others to do the same thing?” That’s what Back Market’s role is going to be; we’re keeping Big Tech on its toes, and the Google partnership is only the beginning of a global healing journey.”