For the first part of my research I looked for articles based on electronic waste. I want to focus my project more towards the contributions technology has to recycling and the damaging effects to the planet. The article I found The Global Cost of Electronic Waste published by The Atlantic in 2016 discusses Apple products and the continuous replacing of perfectly good devices we do. Apple sells millions of new iPhones when the new generation is released, replacing perfectly good recent models. This is because everyone wants the “new” fad. After having an iPhone for a year or two, it could possibly show signs of wear such as glass may be cracked, the home button could stick, etc. However, few people choose to repair their phones over getting an upgrade. Not only phones are being thrown out at slight inconvenience, tablets, laptops, music players, etc are being wasted and thrown away because of laziness or a lust for the future. Throwing away thousands of electronic devices has several effects on the ecosystem. First, it increases mini and procurement for the materials that are needed to produce the devices. It also produces large quantities of electronic waste which could be reduced through resale, reuse, or repair. The quantity and speed of discarded electronics has increased quickly over the years, being far from when households would keep their tv’s for more than a year. “As per the report of ENDS Europe agency, built-in obsolescence increased the proportions of all units sold to replace defective appliances from 3.5 percent in 2004 to 8.3 percent in 2012. The share of large household appliances that had to be replaced within the first five years grew from 7 percent of total replacements in 2004 to 13 percent in 2013. According to a 2014 Gallup poll, 89 percent of young adults (18 to 29) own smartphones; 41 percent of the older generation owned VCRs at the same age.”
By having this increase in need for devices, it has made the manufacturing inexpensive and repairing them more difficult. Companies also have increasingly ended support for older models of phones with old operating systems. WhatsApp and Facebook announced they will stop providing support for apps on certain models of Blackberry. Not only does this have to do with portable electronic devices, printer manufacturers realized they can make more money selling ink and toner than the printer itself. “According to a Financial Times report, a gallon of ink for the typical printer costs the consumer around $8,000. But the prices of printers are so low that once their initial ink supply is spent, the consumer is tempted to buy a whole new machine” The concept of steering customers to buy new items by reducing their lifespan of products is nothing new. In 1924, Phoebus made sure that lightbulbs did not exceed their expected life span of 1,000 hours.
Electronic waste raises concern about air pollution, water pollution, soil pollution, information security, and human exploitation. When scavengers burn electronic waste to get the copper, air can be polluted, and if it’s not disposed properly toxins from electronic waste can enter soil and water supplies.
https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2016/09/the-global-cost-of-electronic-waste/502019/