Managing Director, Gulrez Tyebji, was live on the Startup Daily show on ausbiz to share about how Reebelo is taking on the issue of e-waste through creating a marketplace for refurbished electronics. If you’ve missed it, we’re here to recap some of the key points covered below.

“ For us, it's all about educating people about responsible consumption of electronics”

The core mission of Reebelo Australia has always been about refreshing the way people consume electronics. E-waste generation is a huge issue that Planet Earth is facing, yet it receives the least attention. Improper disposal of e-waste, the immense amount of carbon emission through irresponsible consumption have all negatively impacted the APAC region. This has particularly affected the APAC region, where much of this e-waste is improperly disposed of, contaminating the environment and leading to health issues from toxic fumes.

Reebelo was founded with the mission to reduce e-waste generation through building a circular economy that reuses these electronics and provides them with a new lease of life. For us, the old adage of fixing something that is broken instead of throwing it away rings true.

“What we've seen is people are really getting behind the idea - people realize that they don't really have to buy a new phone if they can buy a perfectly working phone for less than half the price.“

Fortunately, we’ve seen an upward trend in recent years for refurbished phones. People are more discerning on functionality and mid-range phones are gaining popularity over flagship models that come with more premium features. While value-for-money is indeed an attraction for mid-range brand new phones, there is a section of the market that considers refurbished or second-hand smartphones to belong in this category.

“We are a marketplace [...] There are companies who are testing them meticulously, making sure they're 100% functional. We partner with those companies so our business model really is bringing all that together on one platform.”

When asked to dive into what Reebelo Australia’s platform is, MD Gulrez Tyebji remarked that Reebelo is ultimately, a marketplace for trusted Australian businesses to provide affordable and fully-functional refurbished electronics to local Australians. These local businesses “are taking away that risk because a lot of people don't know what they're getting into when they're buying used or second-hand devices.” All vendors with Reebelo Australia adhere to quality standards and providing our customers with sustainable choices to select what is best for them is our business model.

“[...] After every device that's sold, we plant a tree in partnership with One Tree Planted”

For each refurbished device sold, Reebelo plants a tree on behalf of its customers with global environment organisation, One Tree Planted. While being a part of the circular economy and giving used electronics a new lease of life is what we hope for everyone, we wanted to go a step further and give our customers a more tangible reminder that we are first and foremost a sustainable business. If we can offset our carbon footprint by planting more trees while also saving electronic devices from premature death, Reebelo is willing to go the extra mile and act on our values.

If you'd like to view Gulrez's full appearance on the Startup Daily, check out the video below.