After reading the topic can you guess which movie comes to your mind? Yes! I am talking about the true inspirational movie “The boy who harnessed the wind”. A boy named William Kamkwamba, despite all the odd events of his life was able to build a windmill from electronic waste for his village’s prosperity. Although electronic scrap consumed by William might deprive smartphone waste, that idea can be utilized to shape up useful products from electronic waste if in case smart phones are unrepairable.
According to a survey during the year 2019, almost 53.6 million e-waste was produced. Now the point is where all this electronic waste goes? The answer is this e-waste account for 2% of the trash in the U.S landfill. It is also shipped to developing countries where environmental regulations are compromised. Some of it is donated to a non-profit organization and some of it is recycled to prevent the release of chemicals into the atmosphere.
Being a responsible citizen we must limit the electronic waste on our motherland. Let’s debate how it can be done:
Ponder before buying a new one
Sometimes wasting a product or gadget depends on our thinking level. If your phone is okay but you are mesmerized by the latest product in the market then before wasting that phone thinks twice. You better donate your gadget to a non-profit organization that is unable to purchase these gadgets if you have already made up your mind to buy a new one.
How repairing is the best option?
If a broken screen is the only flaw residing on your smartphone then replacing it switches to the option of repairing. There are many advantages if you opt for this option as you can enhance the lifespan of your cell phone by just applying some minor changes. You can use your mobile for a long duration for which once you had been saving money for a long duration. Most importantly your phone holds your data, files, pictures and other documents thus repairing can save you from personal data loss. Thirdly repairing instead of buying a new one can save a lot of money.
Right to repair
The European Commission is seeking to extend an eco-friendly law named “right to repair” for phones and laptops, ultimately giving benefits to the phone and laptop users. According to this law, manufacturers have to make their products easier to repair and reuse. These products must have repairable parts thus not facilitating the customers but also limiting the electronic waste. However, this debate is facing controversies, and let’s wait and see the result of this debate.
Eco-design
The main purpose of eco-design is to anticipate negative impacts on the environment and to design objects that comply with ecological sustainability. The main purposes which come under the eco-design regarding cell phones required by manufacturers are:
- Disassembly: parts that can be disassembled easily.
- Spare parts: approachable by customers.
- Manuals: available for the ease of customers.
Recycle, recycle, and recycle
Unfortunately, if a phone repair person has given you a red signal about your phone then, recycling is the next option. Recycling can save energy, conserve natural resources, and increase economic security, and it keeps the environment clean from pollution. Recycled phones help in the manufacturing of new products, metal obtained from recycled phones is further used in the making of cars and other electronic appliances. In the same way, plastic gained by the recycling process is used in the creation of other products and appliances.
One of the most positive faces of recycling is that most of the organization take recycled products for educational purposes. They use the old gadget and are aware of their students about technology. According to a report for every million cell phones that are recycled, close to 40,000 pounds in precious metals can be recovered. Recycling only one cell phone can save energy to power a laptop for about 44 hours. A report published by the Hyla blog states that recycling 100 million cell phones can save up to the energy of about 2 KW.
Last but not least you must educate first yourself and then your child about e-waste. This education will help you avoid purchasing those products that are harmful to the environment.
