Circular Economy

We will improve our use of resources and create circular business models

Our relationship with tech needs to change and as the leading omnichannel retailer of technology products and services in all the markets we operate in, we’re uniquely placed to lead the way in changing this relationship. We believe there’s a far better way – better for customers, better for us, better for communities and better for the planet. And that better way is to give technology a longer life.

We all love new technology and want to feel good about buying a new piece of kit. But we also know that electronic waste is the world’s fastest growing waste stream and is expected to grow to nearly 82 million tonnes by 2030. We have to face facts: we can’t keep throwing stuff away.

At Currys, we don’t just sell amazing technology; we save it too. As a leading technology retailer with one of Europe’s largest tech repair labs and an in-home repair service, we’re positioned to help customers extend the life of their tech.

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Buy

When you buy amazing technology

• We know our customers want to reduce their impact on the environment, and it’s our job to make that easier.
• From energy efficient ovens to water efficient dishwashers, we’re making it easier for our customers to make choices, through tools that enable transparency and comparability between products.
• Currys and Elkjøp continue to sell refurbished tech through their online platforms.
• Currys, in the UK, has sold over 130,000 refurbished tech items in 2024/25, an increase of 11%. The volume has been driven prominently through mobiles, laptops and small tech devices.
• Elkjøp Nordic continues to sell refurbished smartphones with demand for popular models higher than expected and sales increased by 29% this year.

Repair

When you need help to repair it

• We help our customers protect their amazing technology from day one, with our range of care services and tech insurance plans.
• 11.9 million of our customers enjoy this extra peace of mind by ensuring their new technology has the longest life possible.
• We have around 1,500 skilled colleagues working to give tech a longer life across the Group, 67% of whom work in our Customer Repair Centre in Newark, along with approximately 200 expert field engineers carrying out repairs in customer homes in the UK & Ireland. Elkjøp also have repair centres, Elcare, that employ around 250 skilled repairers.
• We handle a wide range of electronic devices, ensuring they are brought back to optimal working condition, with our repair capabilities at Newark also enabling us to drive circularity by re-using spare parts. This not only supports our sustainability efforts but also provides our customers with reliable and affordable repair services.
• Our repair experts also help customers in the UK & Ireland identify the cause of a fault, undertake DIY fixes and assist with arranging a repair through our RepairLive service, an on demand service, available via video call for laptops and TVs.
• This year we launched new repair programmes for Microsoft Surface laptops and Xbox devices in the UK & Ireland, restoring many devices to full functionality, extending their lifespan and reducing electronic waste.

Trade-in

When you’re ready for something new

• Trade-in is the bridge between old and new tech.
• When you want to upgrade, we do it in a way that’s good for your pocket by using the trade-in value to make sure your new technology is more affordable. We can also give it longer life in a different form to somebody else.
• We continue trade-ins, where we offer gift cards or money for old devices, and we have online trade-in calculators available to determine the value of products.
• In the UK & Ireland, we support most of our existing categories with a trade-in proposition and 60,300 products have been traded in, with an average value of £137 being given to customers this year.
• We have seen over 200,000 Cash4Trash vouchers redeemed, saving customers over £1m.
• This year Elkjøp Nordic has made the trade-in process easier for both customers and colleagues, by integrating trade-in to our systems and making it easier for customers to check the value of their products both at home or in our stores.
• We also provided refurbished items to specific causes, including those in need via our Tech4Families programme with the Digital Poverty Alliance.

End of life

When it’s reached the end of life

• We want everyone to bring their old or unwanted tech into our stores to be reused or recycled for free – whether they bought it from us or not. If we can’t reuse it, then we can harvest parts which can be put to good use by our amazing repair colleagues in our repair labs. Or we can recycle it.
• In 2024/25 5.5 million pieces of e-waste were collected for reuse and recycling across our Group, equivalent to 87,000 tonnes.
• We provide free in-store drop off and collect our customers’ unwanted electrical equipment and small electrical appliances for recycling when we deliver their new technology.
• We have expanded our Cash for Trash programme in the UK by working in partnership with Cancer Research and selected other charity shops.
• Donated technology that can’t be directly resold by the charity is taken to our delivery depots. Once dropped off, the unwanted tech will be sent to our central sorting facility in Newark, where it will be assessed, then either refurbished, repaired, have the parts harvested or be responsibly recycled.
• These charity partnerships have seen an impressive response, with thousands of items being brought in and repurposed.
• We also joined forces with Deloitte to drive recycling of tech as well as awareness of e-waste and digital inclusion through support of Deloitte’s new ‘Recycle for Good’ launch, empowering Deloitte’s 25,000 UK colleagues to recycle their old tech and electricals at our stores.

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As a leading technology retailer, with the ability to serve customers in-store and online, we are in a prime position to make a difference and help our customers extend the life of their tech. So, here’s how we’re doing it at every stage of the product’s life.

Collaborating with others

Giving technology longer life shows how purpose and profit can – and must – go hand in hand. We’re doing the right thing and making a profit – and that means we’re in it for the long-run. We’re leading the way in changing everyone’s relationship with tech for the better and we are helping to accelerate industry change by working with others.

We’ve been working closely with the UK Government and stakeholders as they develop their circular economy policies to address e-waste. We hosted Minister Mary Creagh MP at our Newark Customer Repair Centre to showcase the great work we do there to give tech longer life, and continue to work with the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (‘DEFRA’) as part of their Circular Economy Taskforce. We also welcomed the Norwegian minister for climate and environment, Andreas Bjelland Eriksen, to Elcare in Kongsvinger, Norway, to show how our repair services operate and explain how we picture the possibility of creating even more ‘green’ jobs within repair services if the VAT on repair services is reduced to incentivise more repairs.

We have continued our membership of the CEP which brings together experts, business leaders and global organisations to set a vision and roadmap to a circular economy for electronics by 2030. This year we have supported their project to create a circular electronics guide.

Product packaging

We’re prioritising a number of ways to help reduce, recycle and reuse plastics and packaging. We have achieved our aim to make all our own label and licensed brand packaging reusable or recyclable. At the end of 2024/25 over 99.9% of our packaging was recyclable, with 82% through normal household collection (based on UK infrastructure). Of the remaining 18% that can’t be recycled kerbside, 86% is expanded polystyrene which is needed to protect the product.

In the UK & Ireland, we continue to provide an in-store takeback scheme for TV packaging (including polystyrene), and we also offer our customers a free packaging recycling service when we deliver and unbox large household appliances. We also offer packaging recycling services in the Nordics.

We proactively work with suppliers of own label and licensed brand products to reduce packaging. We remain committed to finding solutions that reduce environmental impact by conducting trials to understand the lifecycle impacts of packaging changes. Applying best practice from previous work we have many products that are now plastic-free from launch, such as Sandstrom smart plugs, many Logik batteries and an entire range of Logik keyboards and mice.

We continue to work with our suppliers to look to make further improvements and investigate ways to get used packaging and other raw materials back to suppliers for circular production.