Paris (AFP)

How to limit the environmental footprint of smartphones when hundreds of millions of 5G devices are about to flood the market?

In the wake of the French government, operators and specialized companies are stepping up recycling and reconditioning to extend the lifespan of mobiles.

Analysts are unanimous: the new iPhone, presented Tuesday by Apple, is the "catalyst" that was missing to launch the boom in 5G smartphones.

Right as the new generation of mobile telephony begins to take shape with the first effective commercial offers by the end of the year.

What accelerate the phenomenon of renewal of the terminals, which already represent 80% of the environmental footprint of digital, according to a Senate report, and a mechanical increase in the consumption of natural resources, fear several NGOs and defense associations. environment.

However, already 100 million smartphones of older generations "sleep in the drawers of the French", recalled last Thursday Cédric O, the secretary of state in charge of digital, on the occasion of a conference on the subject.

Because as its president Sébastien Soriano lamented at the end of September, the telecoms regulatory authority (Arcep) is "powerless" to regulate the way "we push" customers to renew their smartphones "whether through commercial practices that give discounts or whatever by software obsolescence ".

- "Yawning hole in the racket" -

"Today, the gaping hole in the racket, it is the question of the terminals. It is the absolute urgency," he repeated Tuesday.

In an attempt to stem the phenomenon, the government has just announced several measures to extend their lifespan, for example by promoting the repairability and attractiveness of reconditioned devices, with the support of operators.

Orange and SFR have already launched an ambitious program in this area.

The first French operator even committed at the beginning of October to increase from 2% to 10% the share of refurbished used phones sold in stores, where there will now be a dedicated space.

"The launch of 5G is a fundamental lever" to get there, says Fabienne Dulac, president of Orange France.

"If we are launching this program now, it is because we wanted to have time to educate the market and the consumer before the arrival of 5G. We know that it takes a little time," she adds.

Enough to create economic opportunities for players specializing in this market estimated at 500 million euros such as Back Market, Smaaart or Recommerce, not to mention the many "job creations" involved.

"We are targeting people who do not have the means to buy new, who do not seek to combine (telephone) and new technology or who do not need 5G" explains to AFP Benoît Varin , co-founder of Recommerce.

- Rare metals "100%" recycled -

Founded in 2009, the start-up achieved 75 million turnover last year, up 25% over one year, while more than 2.2 million refurbished smartphones were sold in France in 2019, according to GfK.

Far from the setbacks of competitor Remade, who had to make more than 200 redundancies at the beginning of the year ...

Another "eco-responsible" activity with great potential: the recycling of "rare earths", metals essential to the manufacture of screens and other components that make up smartphones, the extraction of which is very polluting.

Apple, which intends to reduce its impact on the climate to "zero" by 2030, announced on Tuesday that the new iPhones "will for the first time use rare earths that are 100% recycled in all magnets", especially those in the new device. Photo.

"Greenwashing" or sign of a new era?

"There is no longer any technological barrier to being able to reintegrate the metals that come from old phones in the manufacture of new types of devices. A 5G phone can be completely made of 100% recycled metals," assures him. AFP Serge Kimbel, founder of the specialized company Morphosis, which wants to encourage manufacturers to operate in a "closed loop".

If smartphones represent "less than 1%" of electronic waste processed by this French company, this activity has been multiplied "by 10 in five years" for a turnover of around one million euros.

© 2020 AFP