Business with purpose

26 Jun Business with purpose

Electronic waste (e-waste) is the fastest growing and most problematic waste stream in the world. Many of us want to make a difference, but do not know how. One company that is making the difference is Genuine Solutions UK (GSUK).

GSUK exists to save planet earth, one recycled product at a time. The company finds new uses for mobile phone handsets and accessories by sorting them, cleaning them, testing them and releasing them in A1 condition for a new life. It has stopped more than 8,000 tonnes of electronic waste ending up in landfill by repurposing and recycling more than 10,000 phones and more than 200,000 units of accessories every month.

GSUK appointed XL Communications in 2019 to bolster media relations and help to share the company’s mission.

Green Friday

XL understood the vision of GSUK and structured three main campaign themes to focus the messaging: ethical, trusted and expert.

By researching the wider issue of e-waste, XL found that as many as 40 million unused gadgets were sitting around in UK homes and that 82 percent of people had no plans to recycle them. Also, annual events such as Black Friday – offering a small window of opportunity to buy goods with significant discounts – encouraged shoppers to make impulse buys, sometimes leaving people regretting their purchases. In 2018, the cost of these returns to UK retailers was put at £362 million. The issue is two-fold: electronic devices such as laptops and smartphones are generally harder to resell, leading to a loss in profits and a sustainability issue.

We launched a ‘Green Friday’ campaign to spread awareness about the effect of the Black Friday sales and encourage consumers to send their electronics to GSUK to be recycled.  

On a mission

The Green Friday campaign and media briefings at the recycling centre garnered national and trade media attention, including iNews, talkRADIO, Radio Jackie, Envirotec, Environment Times and Environment Journal.

XL also helped GSUK achieve multiple environmental and mobile award wins including two Global Good Awards for Circular Economy and Employee Engagement awards, Mobile Industry – Power 50 awards, several Mobile News Awards and Green World Awards.

Working with a company that has ethical values rooted at its core and is dedicated to its mission to save planet Earth was both rewarding and eye-opening.