Smartphones are slowly taking over the world. Almost every person in the world has one of these devices, and the sales are going up every year. Even though that’s great for the electronics economy, it’s not great for the planet we live on.
Manufacturing these devices contributes to loads of carbon emissions, and it’s a stream of waste that most countries don’t know how to deal with. One of the most shocking facts is that at least seven of the main components for making these kinds of devices will be completely used in the next century. Click on this link to read more: https://waste-management-world.com/a/repairing-not-recycling-is-the-way-to-tackle-the-smartphone-e-waste-explosion
This means that all manufacturers need to find a way to preserve these resources through recycling. The first step to doing this is creating new customer habits as well as novel business structures. All brands will need a strategy to deal with repairing phones, as well as recycling e-waste, which will make an ideal circular economy.
Every year, more than 1 billion new gadgets are bought, and that number is expected to rise. We’re at the turning point of a digital transformation that changed pretty much every area of our lives. This includes agricultural production, finances, and especially the communications sector.
Electronic devices have the ability to improve and enhance our lives without doing so much harm to the environment. Now, we’re going to look at the best way to do it in Toronto, as well as the steps that companies need to take to include recycling and improve sustainability.
Managing waste and emissions
The biggest issue we face as a species is global warming. It doesn’t seem like something catastrophic because it’s happening gradually. The ozone layer can’t be seen, and we can’t instantly detect the damage that the sun is causing to our skin. Follow this link for more info.
Even an increase of a couple of degrees when it comes to the temperature will be a nightmare for almost every plant and animal species. Most electronics create 90 percent of their carbon emissions throughout the manufacturing process.
When you combine all of these devices in the world, the footprint they’re leaving is significant. Plus, smartphones alone account for more than 10 percent of the waste in the world. In 2019, that equaled to be more than 50 million tons.
Just to make that number clearer, it would be like stacking around 200 000 busses on top of each other in a single place. Additionally, there are loads of precious metals in that mess of circuit boards, transistors, processors, and batteries.
If someone was to extract all of those materials, that would be worth between 50 and 100 million dollars. Out of all of that waste, only 20 percent was recycled. The numbers are alarming, and change is absolutely necessary.
What needs to be done?
The first thing that companies can do is to increase the lifespan of appliances and devices. Most people have had the same phone for two or three years. That’s an average. Let’s say that every person uses the same phone for four years.
Prolonging the lifespans by that amount of all phones will reduce the global carbon footprint by a large amount. Scientists have calculated, and the number of carbon emissions reduced will be the same as Ireland’s yearly emissions.
Even though this seems like a difficult challenge with all of the branding and marketing nowadays, it’s one of the responsibilities of the consumers. Most businesses such as Toronto computer recycling have used the strategy of shortening the lifespan of appliances to boost profits and make their products last a set number of years.
This means that customers are forced to renew and constantly purchase new products. If businesses were to include the option of reusing and repairs as a service, this would create a better environment. Refurbishing facilities will be an amazing addition to companies like Apple, Samsung, and others.
In Europe, countries are starting to adapt to the circular economy and are keen on recycling and managing waste. They’re trying to maintain all materials in a circle, and they’ve made it much more accessible.
The European Union is making a groundbreaking plan to inform customers to repair their electronics and make it transparent about how to cope with faulty equipment and devices. This will shed new light on this sector and become a steppingstone for future success.
