Carrefour is working with two phone recycling services to enable customers to exchange their old mobile phones for shopping vouchers.
There are around 50 collection points for old phones already in operation in certain Carrefour supermarkets and hypermarkets, and the chain plans to have installed such counters in 250 of its stores by January.
It is estimated that there are more than 100 million smartphones collecting dust in drawers and that only 15% of devices sold end up being collected for reconditioning and resale, or else for recycling.
Carrefour’s collection points will be managed by phone recycling service ecoATM and electronics restoration company Back Market will take care of reselling the used phones.
When a customer presents their old device to the ecoATM collection point, it will register the phone model and estimate its value. If the owner is satisfied with the figure suggested, they can exchange the phone for a Carrefour gift card which can be spent on any products, including food.
The phone will then be reconditioned by ecoATM and sold on by Back Market. Those which cannot be resold will be taken apart and recycled if possible.
Carrefour’s phone collection points will complement its ‘Carrefour Occasion’ counters, where customers can present a range of different objects, from computers to coffee machines, and exchange them for cash.
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