Every Device Will Die Eventually. Here’s How to Shop for a New One More Sustainably. (2024)

The most environmentally friendly thing you can do is to buy the right device for your needs that will last as long as possible. This approach can also save you money in the long term. That’s one of the reasons Wirecutter researches, tests, and recommends what we do.

If you buy the wrong device—or one that’s underpowered for the tasks you need to do—you’ll need to upgrade sooner and create more emissions and e-waste than just buying the right thing the first time around. But that isn’t an invitation to overbuy, as that creates waste too. In all of our guides, we have recommendations for the specs that most people should look for in new devices, including phones, tablets, laptops, and more.

Laptop carbon-emissions breakdown

The limiting factor in most modern tech is the processor, which—depending on the type of device, whether it’s a phone, a laptop, or the like—will start to seem slow in three to five years. The only way around that limitation is to buy a device specifically designed with an upgradable processor, such as the Framework Laptop 13. So far, very few devices outside of desktop PCs meet that criteria, but if you can find one you like, this significantly lowers the impact of your tech use.

The next best option is to look for devices that can be repaired to extend their usable life. (We have advice for how to find the best one for you.) A battery replacement, in particular, can make an aging phone or laptop feel brand-new again, and getting a new battery has a much lower environmental impact than buying a whole new device. There’s no standardized repair score system in the United States, so we recommend checking iFixit’s scores (for laptops, tablets, and phones) and the French repair index to get an idea of how easy it is to repair a given device.

Shopping for a refurbished or used model instead of buying something brand-new is a more sustainable choice, and it can save you some money. Manufacturer-refurbished phones, tablets, and computers tend to be in better shape than retailer-refurbished or used units, but both are more sustainable options than shopping new—and you can find something great if you know what to look for.

For manufacturer-refurbished items: Apple and Dell have the best stock of refurbished phones and PCs, and both companies offer the same warranties that they provide with their new products, including the ability to extend those warranties for years. Google, Lenovo, and Samsung also offer refurbs with a one-year warranty; we don’t recommend any manufacturer refurb with a warranty shorter than that.

For retailer-refurbished and used items: Wirecutter Deals senior editor Nathan Burrow recommends looking for items sold by a trustworthy retailer (such as those listed below) with the longest warranty possible. Most used items have grades; be sure to stick to “excellent,” “like new,” or “very good” condition.

If you’re upgrading to a new device from the same company that made your current device, check its trade-in program. Some manufacturers, such as Dell and Samsung, even accept devices from other companies. Not only can you save some money this way, but these trade-in programs are also how companies stock their refurbished-product storefronts.

“The more of these devices that we get back, the better,” said Sarah Chandler, vice president of environment and supply chain innovation at Apple. “Just bring it to us, and we will get it to its next best place for the environment.” (According to Bloomberg, from 2015 to 2017 Apple had a contract with a recycler mandating that all devices be shredded despite the possibility that some could be repaired. Bloomberg's reporting also cites a consultant familiar with the company's practice of shredding "perfectly reusable" iPhones and iPads as recently as 2023. In response to these claims, Apple told us "we have strong, constantly-improving systems in place to prevent devices with remaining useful life from being recycled, and to protect user privacy and safety throughout the process. There is no economic incentive to recycle a device at cost when it could be reused.")

Even if your device is broken, usually you can still get some money toward a new one by trading it in. Then the manufacturer can extract useful materials from it for recycling into new devices—in fact, the company that made the device is often better equipped to disassemble it and recover more materials than more generalist recyclers. For example, Apple has designed specialized robots to disassemble iPhones to recover magnets and other materials (PDF) that are typically lost or broken in other recycling processes.

The above tips will go the furthest in helping you to lower the environmental impact of your tech, because most of a device’s environmental impact happens at the manufacturing step. Recognizing this, companies have begun to implement their own changes in their materials and manufacturing processes. Here are the manufacturer sustainability claims that experts say matter most.

Environmental impact reports

First, don’t be fooled by “carbon neutral” claims—no product is created with absolutely zero emissions. “I’m highly skeptical of carbon neutrality, because it means that they’re probably investing in some kind of offset to reduce that,” said Jeremy Gregory, executive director of the MIT Climate and Sustainability Consortium (of which Apple is a member). “And getting high-quality offsets these days is very challenging.” But it is a good step when companies measure each product’s environmental impact—and work to reduce it.

Many experts we spoke to said that they would look for products and manufacturers with a life-cycle assessment (LCA) or product carbon footprint (PCF) report. These reports, especially those that have been verified by a third party, are a good indicator that a company is paying attention to environmental impact and taking steps to understand what changes would make the biggest difference.

The reports typically measure the impact of a product’s whole life cycle, which includes the initial extraction of the raw materials, the manufacturing and assembly process, the shipment of the product, use for the product’s estimated lifespan, and the product’s disposal at the end of its life. One example is the UL Environmental Product Declaration ecolabel, which displays carbon emissions and resource use. Two of our gaming mouse picks, Razer’s Basilisk V3 Pro and Basilisk Ultimate, have been certified with this label. But different reports use different methods, so their estimates aren’t apples to apples.

Recycled materials

In general, devices that use recycled and low-emissions materials have a smaller footprint than those made with “virgin” materials, even though the process of recycling materials also has environmental impacts. These are the materials we’ve seen, in devices such as laptops and phones, that help reduce the impact of manufacturing.

Recycled and low-emissions aluminum and other metals

Products that use recycled aluminum represent a significant improvement over those that use virgin aluminum, though the improvement doesn’t completely eliminate the metal’s environmental impacts (PDF). Other recycled metals, such as recycled steel and magnesium, also offer improvements over their virgin counterparts, but many tech companies are focusing on aluminum as their highest priority.

“Virgin aluminum is very energy intensive, it requires a lot of electricity,” MIT’s Gregory said. Apple’s 2023 Environmental Progress Report (PDF) measures recycled aluminum at one-fortieth the carbon emissions of virgin aluminum, and Apple’s Sarah Chandler said that recycled aluminum is the most impactful materials change (PDF) that the company has made to its products so far. “There's a huge reduction in carbon footprint from recycled aluminum,” said Chandler.

But there’s not enough recycled aluminum to meet demand, so lower-emissions aluminum processes are also important. “There’s definitely a place for those technologies in addition to recycling,” said Nick Abbatiello, senior distinguished engineer at Dell. “You need to do it all.”

Recycled circuit boards

Computer chips and circuit boards (PCBs) have the largest environmental impact due to the energy-intensive process required to make them. Apple has started using some recycled materials in its PCBs. In the latest MacBook Air models (PDF), the company has moved to recycled tin and recycled gold in the solder and plating of multiple PCBs. These MacBooks also use recycled copper foil in several PCBs, the thermal sheet, and the main logic board.

Considering the outsize impact of chips and PCBs on a device’s environmental footprint, these changes, similar to the recycled metals above, do have a positive impact, and we hope to see innovation from more companies on this front.

Batteries with recycled cobalt

Cobalt, used in batteries for phones and laptops, is another metal with a significant number of impacts—not just environmental impacts (PDF) but human-rights impacts as well. Recycled cobalt, including that derived from recycled electric-vehicle batteries, performs just as well as virgin cobalt. Dell’s sustainability strategy product lead Katie Green told us that one EV battery can be turned into a thousand laptop batteries.

Recycled plastics

Compared with the overall impact of chips, circuit boards, and metals, recycled plastic has a smaller impact on a product’s environmental footprint, according to MIT’s Gregory. In fact, switching to aluminum can have a bigger impact than using recycled plastic, because aluminum is more recyclable and therefore more likely to be turned into a new device at the end of its life. HP, for one, has done this with several of its laptop lines for this very reason.

That said, many tech devices—such as the Samsung Galaxy S24 (PDF) and laptops from HP and Dell—claim to use PCR (post-consumer recycled) and ocean-bound plastics. (“Ocean-bound” refers to plastics that have been collected from within 30 miles of an ocean coastline or major waterway in a region that lacks waste-management infrastructure.) Manufacturers use these recycled plastics in a variety of parts, including phone bodies, laptop fans, and bezels.

The experts we spoke with said that recycled plastic has a lower impact than virgin plastic. But plastics are not as recyclable as metals such as aluminum, and using recycled plastics often requires adding in fresh plastics for durability.

Pretty much everyone has been there: You replace one bit of tech with another and let the old phone or computer sit in a closet somewhere for months or years. But the sooner you can responsibly pass the old item on, the sooner it can get reused or recycled. If you haven’t opted to trade in your device, donate it to someone else or properly recycle it. Our guide to disposing of old electronics has tips and resources to help you do this.

“The highest-value thing you can do is get that into a reuse market where other people can use it, because that avoids them having to get a new one,” said MIT’s Gregory.

Definitely don’t throw the device away—even if it’s totally busted, it contains valuable materials that a manufacturer can recycle and reuse in future products. Not only is it important to keep e-waste out of landfills, but “you can turn those materials into the next MacBook or the next watch body,” said Kate Bergeron, vice president of hardware engineering at Apple. Dell’s Katie Green agreed: “If you don’t send it back, we can’t reuse the material, so please get it back.”

This piece was updated to clarify Apple's past practices around shredding devices. We included comment from Apple.

This article was edited by Caitlin McGarry and Katie Okamoto.

1. Jeremy Gregory, executive director, MIT Climate and Sustainability Consortium, video interview, February 8, 2024

2. Katie Green, sustainability strategy product lead, Dell Technologies, in-person interview, December 7, 2023, video interview, February 20, 2024

3. Nick Abbatiello, senior distinguished engineer, Dell Technologies, video interview, February 1, 2024

4. Kate Bergeron, vice president of hardware engineering, Apple, video interview, February 29, 2024

5. Sarah Chandler, vice president of environment and supply chain innovation, Apple, video interview, February 29, 2024

6. Kenneth Ng, global sustainability lead, Razer, video interview, February 27, 2024

7. Rick Thompson, distinguished engineer battery group, Dell Technologies, email interview, February 23, 2024

8. Mark Newton, head of corporate sustainability, Samsung Electronics America, email interview, February 27, 2024

9. HP spokesperson, email interview, February 21, 2024