FCNT & Itochu launch the first waste neutral mobile phone in Japan

13 February 2023

Collecting and Recycling one scrap phone for every new "Arrows N'' sold 

 

Context

Japan is known to be one of the most sustainable countries in the world. Its people have been conscious about taking care of the environment and its resources for longer than many other countries. It makes total sense that ITOCHU Corporation and FCNT, a Japanese leading mobile phone brand, choose to launch a new flagship mobile phone with a sustainable design in mind. For the Japanese consumer, this is a no brainer, it’s even expected.

To ensure the proposition covers the full lifecycle of a phone, FCNT & ITOCHU have partnered with Dutch Social Enterprise Closing the Loop, to offer waste compensation with every new Arrow N model they sell. This will support the efforts of reducing electronic waste in developing countries.

What is waste compensation?

Waste compensation makes phones ‘waste-neutral’. This means that for one new Arrows N phone sold in Japan, one broken device is collected and recycled. The waste is from countries that lack waste management capacity. This additional waste reduction is then used to ‘waste compensate’ a new phone. It makes a new phone waste-neutral.

The proposition

FCNT & ITOCHU are including waste compensation to the overall offer for the new smartphone Arrows N F-51C sold by NTT DoCoMo.  This program will fund Closing the Loop’s collection efforts in countries where scrap would otherwise not be collected - and recycle more units than ever before.

The Arrows N F-51C is the first smartphone in Japan to have waste compensation services paired with a mobile phone.

Meet the new phone: https://www.fcnt.com/product/arrows/f-51c/

FCNT & ITOCHU join a bigger group of brands like Vodafone Germany and Fairphone, in offering waste compensation services together with Closing the Loop. Thanks to these partnerships and many more, Closing the Loop expects to collect more than 4M scrap phones in 2024.

Press release FCNT: https://www.fcnt.com/news/detail/20230207.html