MusicMagpie on putting e-waste on the world’s agenda at G7 conference

MusicMagpie is a re-commerce company specialising in the refurbishment of consumer tech, and is a passionate advocate of the circular economy.

Following a successful IPO in April 2021, musicMagpie is ready to leading the charge as a champion of re-commerce both in the UK and in the US. With climate change high on the agenda at the impending G7 summit in the UK, our objectives were:

• Raise awareness of, and educate people about, the growing and overlooked issue of e-waste.
• Put forward the need for electronics to be recycled, refurbished and resold rather than dumped in landfill as e-waste.
• Position musicMagpie as a champion of consumer tech re-commerce and a leading voice in the battle against e-waste.

The strategy

According to the United Nations, 53 million tonnes of e-waste is generated worldwide each year; set to double by 2050, it’s the fastest growing waste stream in the world.

Unless recycled properly, e-waste is a serious threat to the planet;- polluting soil, water and air. Millions of laptops, mobile phones and consumer electronic goods also rely heavily on reusable and ever-diminishing precious metals that, when extracted from the earth, create harmful environmental problems. The G7 nations alone produce almost 15.9 million tonnes of e-waste a year.

It’s an issue that needs addressing, but is largely misunderstood.

Our pre-campaign Opinium research showed low consumer awareness of the issue. Four in five Brits didn’t know what e-waste was; nearly half were unaware it impacted climate change; almost half do not recycle or resell their old tech, or donate it to charity; five million adults admit to throwing their old tech in the bin. Similar results were found in the US.

With the dangers and issues attached to e-waste falling on deaf ears, we knew education and awareness around e-waste needed to be brought to the world’s attention in a way that would cut through and make people listen. We needed a bold idea to do justice to the size of this global, growing issue.

With the world’s media about to descend on Cornwall for the G7 Summit, the stage was set to make a statement. However, with e-waste not featuring on the official agenda, we needed to create a summit of our own - so we did, quite literally. Enter Mount Recyclemore.

The campaign

With the world's media about to descend upon Cornwall to cover the summit, we knew they would be looking for something visual to represent the summit in one shot that wasn't just another Boris elbow bump greeting of his fellow leaders. Alongside artist Joe Rush, of the Mutoid Waste Company, we set about erecting a huge sculpture of the heads of the G7 leaders made from 20,000 discarded electronic goods - a literal visual representation of the issue at hand.

Based on Mount Rushmore, 'Mount Recyclemore' (the E7) was placed on Sandy Acres in Cornwall purposely looking menacingly towards Carbis Bay, where the real-life President Biden, Prime Minister Johnson, President Macron and other leaders were meeting.

In addition, to underline musicMagpie as a consumer champion and to encourage consumer action, we partnered with the charity WasteAid, donating £1 for each piece of tech customers traded in with musicMagpie during June to fund WasteAid’s first ever e-waste management education programme.

The results

Mount Recyclemore was lauded by almost every major news outlet in the UK, US and beyond, with coverage from 74 countries. With press still rolling in months later, the campaign has resulted in almost 1500 articles spanning online, print, TV, radio and podcasts - including BBC News, The Guardian and The Financial Times, alongside international heavyweights including Washington Post, CNN, CHN, Japan Today, Forbes and New York Times as well as front pages in major global publications in the likes of Russia and South Africa.

Dozens of TV news crews descended from every G7 country, including BBC, ITV News at Ten, Sky News, AP, AFP, Reuters, CNN, ABC, Deutsche Welle, Televisa, TV Asahi, CBC and CTV, alongside features on high profile chat shows including Jimmy Fallon’s The Tonight Show and James Corden’s The Late Show.

A social media tidal wave dominated much of the G7 conversation, with 8.1k social mentions of Mount Recylemore and the topic trending on Twitter and Facebook with posts from major global news outlets, as well as charities including Greenpeace, fellow tech brands, environmentalists such as Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and social praise from politician Jeremy Corbyn; the sculpture informed the opening speech of his address to Cambridge Union.

Despite only being in situ four days, Mount Recyclemore became an attraction in its own right gaining an organic listing as a location and ‘cultural landmark’ on Google - something that can only be achieved through continued public popularity.

38% of all trade-ins through musicMagpie in the month of June were first time users of the company. The campaign also opened doors for musicMagpie’s business development team - including industry bodies, environmental organisations/charities and commercial prospects in the US and UK..

This project was a winner at The Drum Awards for PR 2021. To find out which Drum Awards are currently open for entry, click here.