Why Swap
Our obsession with new cases is huge: 1.5 billion phone cases are thrown away each year, and often made form materials which are very hard to recycle or repurpose
Many phone cases are made from plastics which are derived from petrochemicals, creating more demand for fossil fuels. Unless they are properly recycled, plastic phone cases can stick around for hundreds of years, breaking down into microplastics over time
It can be tricky to find recycling centres that take the types of rigid plastic used for phone cases, leading to many of them being put in the bin
The Alternatives
The best phone case is the one you already have, but plastic cases have a tendency to break quite often, and new phone models and sizes mean you might be in the market for a new case more often than you want to be. Thankfully there are lots of eco-friendly phone case alternatives, from plant-based plastics to bamboo.
Recycled Phone Cases
Cases made from recycled materials help remove waste while also reducing demand for new materials. Whether it's regular old plastic from household recycling or plastic rescued from our seas which started life as a fishing net, recycled options can help give a longer life to materials made to stick around.
Plastic-free
Recycled Materials
Industrially Compostable
Natural Phone Cases
Cases made from natural materials like wood and bamboo reduce demand for new virgin plastics and will biodegrade over time without shedding microplastics. Some claim natural fibres like bamboo which have been treated have antibacterial properties as well, which would mean your phone case isn't as much of a germ-fest as one made with plastic or silicon.
Plastic-free
Recycled Materials
Industrially Compostable