Turning a Recycling Program Into a New Customer Offering

It’s widely reported that the majority of people worldwide keep their old mobile phones, even if they don’t use them. French telecommunications company Orange recognized this inefficiency as a huge opportunity. With CSC, it set out to transform its process for collecting old phones into a revenue-generating, environmentally friendly proposition.

Second life for mobile handsets

The Eco Orange program is providing a second life to mobile handsets, while also helping to improve customer loyalty, increase their purchasing power, provide eco-friendly benefits to the planet, and enable developing countries to obtain inexpensive mobile phones. The customers benefit by either paying less for a mobile replacement or by upgrading their mobile device to a superior model.

Eco Orange was developed within Orange Care, a new end-to-end portfolio of care services for customers, from the time they purchase a device to when they retire it. With this program, Orange has improved customer satisfaction and decreased its environmental impact, all without affecting its operational margins.

2010 Chairman's Award for Excellence Recipient

A CSC team, including Jean-Vincent Cazaux, Sébastien Marie, Maryna Fedrigo and Olivier Douville, designed the Eco Orange concept and managed its implementation and the required reverse logistics. The program used a standardized system applicable to multiple countries (the program was launched in eight European countries simultaneously), and the process included the whole value chain. Orange was intent on being a leader and proving that new, inventive actions were possible on a massive scale.

The Eco Orange concept is to collect old mobile phones and laptops from users, whether Orange customers or not. If the item is in poor condition, Orange recycles it. If in good condition, Orange issues a credit voucher that customers can use, in Orange shops, toward the purchase of a new mobile phone or any other item in the shop.

The recycled phone is sold for parts or, if in good condition, refurbished and resold. Money from parts sold goes to charities like UNICEF and the World Wildlife Fund. Refurbished phones are sold to developing countries through brokers.

A sustainable business model

Eco Orange combines economic efficiency, social equity and environmental protection in a sustainable business model. The solution can be applied in any country with minimal modifications; it can be extended to other telcos, the retail sector, and organizations that have products that can be recycled.

Orange is actively encouraging people to recycle, and sells second-hand mobile phones, a new market that can be extended to other mobile devices.

Watch a video about Eco Orange.

Learn about our Leading Edge Forum.