From recycling old smartphones to buying eco-designed or reconditioned devices…
there are many everyday gestures that help make a difference.
Because tomorrow’s world is everyone’s responsibility!
Extending the life of your devices
#1 Keep your devices for longer
The greatest environmental impact of phones and smartphones is the manufacturing process. That’s why you should keep them for as long as you can and have them repaired rather than replacing them if possible. If you like to upgrade your device regularly, why not buy refurbished rather than brand new?
#2 Bring your Orange equipment back to us
Have you changed your equipment or moved house? Remember you can return your set-top boxes and routers to your operator including Orange. This is not only better for your wallet as you’ll get your deposit back but also better for the environment: our equipment can have up to five lives.
#3 Join the circular economy
When you buy eco-designed devices, you are choosing devices with a lower manufacturing carbon footprint. The packaging is also optimised in terms of weight, material (often cardboard) and vegetable ink, which is greener in more ways than one!
Adopting new habits
#4 Use Wi-Fi when possible
If you’re using a lot of data, choose a Wi-Fi connection over a mobile network. According to ARCEP, a 4G network user consumes three times more electricity than an ADSL user and up to ten times more than a fibre user for the same service. This is a small but important gesture.
#5 Watch videos in moderation
Did you know that online videos consume around 80% of today’s internet bandwidth? To reduce their impact you can download them in low definition mode for small screens. On social media, remember to disable automatic video playback and limit HD images.
#6 Carry out some digital cleaning
Throwing away, sorting, tidying… you spring clean your house so why not your inbox? Emails stored in data centres consume a lot of energy so empty your mailbox and archive your emails to limit their data storage burden.
Saving energy
#7 On or off, no in between
When your devices are in sleep mode, they are still using electricity so remember to switch off your TVs, PCs etc when you’re not using them. They’ll also appreciate the rest!
#8 Unplug
Did you know that if you leave a charger plugged in, even when unattached to a device, it still consumes electricity? To save energy, remember to unplug your devices once fully charged.
#9 Close background apps
These small savings add up so only turn your Bluetooth, WiFi and GPS on when you need them and close any apps when you’re not using them.
#10 Use energy saving mode
There are lots of ways you can extend the battery life of your devices, for example by activating energy-saving mode or lowering the brightness of your screens.
#11 Take your screen to the dark side
Did you know that our screens consume a lot of energy to display bright colors and white backgrounds? Dark mode is a great feature for extending the battery life especially at night. Just go to your display settings on your iOS or Android device, or use the sites and apps that offer it. Another advantage is that dark mode reduces your blue light exposure so say goodbye to headaches and eye strain and say hello to better sleep!
#12 Use an Eco Filter to make your stories greener
Millions of photos and videos are shared on social media every day, resulting in significant energy consumption and CO2 emissions. To continue sharing your brunches, selfies and vacations on Instagram, consider using the Eco Filter. By reducing the number of pixels in photos and videos, it helps lower the carbon footprint of your stories by up to 20%*, with only a minimal reduction in quality.
* Source : Greenspector
If you’re excited about innovation and would like to contribute to environmental causes, why not help improve future versions of the Eco Filter! Get involved via open source.
Eco-gestures and smartphone