Over 900,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions saved by trading 37 million items on OLX Group platforms last year

Amsterdam, 7 February 2020

To mark World Circular Economy Day, OLX Group has released a special report, showcasing the significant environmental benefits of buying secondhand goods on its platforms as part of the ‘circular economy’ movement.

The report details the environmental savings made by its users when choosing secondhand instead of buying new. Every time a secondhand item is traded on an OLX Group platform, it extends the life of that product, and potentially stops or delays a new version of the product from being produced. This action helps to preserve scarce resources, and reduce the level of harmful CO2 (carbon dioxide) emissions. In addition to the clear environmental benefits, the process contributes to the ‘circular economy’, where users adopt a sustainable model of behaviour, and products are reused instead of being discarded.

The report specifies the amount of materials, energy, water, and CO2 emissions that have all been preserved or prevented as a result of secondhand trade on OLX Group platforms globally. It is the first in a series of reports planned by OLX, focusing on secondhand product sales in its Electronics and Fashion categories during 2019. Electronics is further broken down into its top three selling products: laptops, smartphones and tablets. Further reports for other popular product categories will be published later in 2020.

In 2019, users who chose to buy secondhand over new on OLX Group platforms, contributed to achieving the environmental benefits listed below:

• Over 20 million secondhand smartphones were exchanged, saving:

  • 3.8 million kg of materials (including 416,000 kg of conflict minerals and cobalt, a mineral associated with child labour)

  • 2.1 million GJ-eq of energy

  • 2.4 million m3 of water

  • 150,000 tonnes CO2-eq (carbon dioxide equivalent)

• Over 2.9 million secondhand laptops were exchanged, saving:

  • 4.6 million kg of materials (including 138,000 kg of conflict minerals and cobalt)

  • 11.9 million GJ-eq of energy

  • 21.7 million m3 of water

  • 735,000 tonnes CO2-eq (carbon dioxide equivalent)

• Over 1 million secondhand tablets were exchanged, saving:

  • 760,000 kg of materials (including 111,000 kg of conflict minerals and cobalt)

  • 384,000 GJ-eq of energy

  • 428,000 m3 of water

  • 27,000 tonnes CO2-eq (carbon dioxide equivalent)

• Over 13.4 million secondhand fashion items were exchanged, saving:

  • 617,000 GJ-eq of energy

  • 3.1 million m3 of water

  • 53,000 tonnes CO2-eq (carbon dioxide equivalent)

The total amount of savings made are equivalent to:

• The weight of over 1.03 million bikes (through materials saved from use)

• Over 387,000 US households’ yearly energy use

• Over 68,000 US households’ yearly water use

• Over 333,000 plane passengers flying from Amsterdam to Los Angeles (through CO2 emission savings)

The research not only demonstrates the positive environmental impact that online classifieds have, but also provides people and businesses with a clear and proven way to reduce their own carbon and environmental footprint. For those who are already environmentally aware, it is a reminder that we can make a difference through simple changes in our own homes. The report also highlights the great economic impact of the classifieds business model: a ‘circular economy’ keeps money within the local community, benefiting individuals and small businesses.

“This new report gives credence to our view that classifieds platforms have a big part to play in creating a sustainable future: through extending the lives of goods, we can reduce our impact on the environment and build economic prosperity at a local level for individuals and businesses. Our report also shows that we can all adopt an environmentally conscious approach. In changing our behaviour to trade secondhand goods using online platforms such as OLX, we can all consume more consciously”, says Martin Scheepbouwer, OLX Group CEO.

About the report

The report covers 17 of OLX Group’s biggest markets, each with different OLX Group-owned platforms. These are Bulgaria, Colombia, Egypt, Indonesia, India, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, UAE, USA, Ukraine, as well as Kazakhstan, Peru, Ecuador, Lebanon, and Pakistan. This includes the consumer platforms OLX, Avito, and letgo. The report can be viewed here.

The research for the report was commissioned by OLX Group and carried out by Bloom Amsterdam and Rebel Group in the Netherlands.

Environmental impact was assessed according to the GRI Standards. The bespoke model used more than 4,500 inputs to calculate impact, including extensive research into producers, using data and references from global organisations such as the European Commission, the WTO, the World Bank and the Ellen MacArthur Foundation. The results summarised in the report include a comprehensive level of detail, with the ability to closely define resource usage for each product. For more information about how this report was calculated, please access: https://www.olxgroup.com/about-our-impact-report.

About OLX Group

OLX Group is among the world’s fastest-growing marketplace networks, serving more than 300 million people every month. Building leading destinations for buying, selling, and exchanging products and services, it operates more than 20 consumer brands including Avito, letgo, and OLX. OLX Group’s technology is designed to enable safe and convenient transactions, encouraging reuse to help give items second, third, or even fourth lives. It’s estimated to facilitate approximately 17 million trades every month, ranging from cars and furniture to electronics and clothing. The Group is powered by a team of 6,000 people working from 35+ offices around the world. For more information, visit www.olxgroup.com.

OLX Group is the online classifieds business of Prosus, a global consumer internet group and one of the largest technology investors in the world. Prosus has a primary listing on Euronext Amsterdam (AEX:PRX) and a secondary listing on the JSE Limited (XJSE:PRX), and is majority-owned by Naspers. For more information on Prosus and its companies and investments, please visit www.prosus.com.

About Rebel Group

Rebel has been active at the intersection of sustainability and economics for over 20 years, working with different multinationals and top players in both the FMCG and electronics sectors. With its pragmatic outlook, Rebel translates the latest trends and developments into concrete opportunities for its clients. From advising on strategy, to facilitating execution: Rebel makes sustainability work. Find out more at www.rebelgroup.com.

About Bloom Amsterdam

Bloom is a consulting firm specialised in digital growth strategy. The team consists of analytical strategists with extensive online know-how and data science skills. Bloom uses data to solve complex business problems and find new growth opportunities. It makes that impact last by building state-of-the-art data products and transferring the firm’s skills to the client’s team. Bloom is based in Amsterdam, and works for companies across the globe – fast-growing online players, corporates, investors, and startups. For more visit www.bloomamsterdam.com.