Brits can earn £197 on average when they trade their smartphone via Virgin Media O2’s recycle program

Smartphones enable you to do so much nowadays. Of course, you can use them for calling and texting, but they also let you take pictures, watch videos, play games, and listen to music. However, like any piece of tech, smartphones have a limited lifespan and need to be replaced at some point.

And what do you do with your old smartphone when you buy a new one? Do you put it in a cabinet somewhere in your house or just throw it in the trash? Well, if you live in the UK, you can just trade it in through O2's Recycle program and get some money for it.

In an attempt to encourage people in the UK to trade in their old devices, Virgin Media O2 shared that Brits can earn an average of £197 by trading in their old smartphones. As the carrier pointed out, the sum is equivalent to a two-year Netflix subscription. People in the UK can also use O2's Recycle program to trade in their old tablets, smartwatches, and headphones and earn an average of £59, £75, and £27 per device, respectively.

Virgin Media O2 also said that its O2 Recycle program paid more than £36 million to customers for their devices in 2022. Last year, the program processed almost 1,000 phones per day, on average, and 92% of these devices were data wiped, refurbished, and resold as "like new" products. The rest of the phones were broken down for raw materials.

The carrier also stated that none of the technology recycled through O2 Recycle ends up in landfills and that its program has paid out more than £320 million and sustainably recycled 3.8 million devices since its launch in 2009.

O2 Recycle is free, and you can trade in your old devices regardless of whether you are a Virgin Media O2 customer or not. To send the devices, you will need to either obtain a free postage QR code or request packaging that includes a printed free postage label to be delivered to your home or office.

If you want to buy a new smartphone, you can check out our best Virgin Media phone deals and best O2 phone deals articles, where you can find amazing deals on some of the best 5G smartphones on the market.