Smartphones today undoubtedly are leading the technological progress with the number
of advanced mobile phones and laptops upgraded every few months. There is no denying that
this has impacted our daily lives tremendously. While we applaud this technological progress,
do we really understand the cost of this evolution and its impact on our earth?
Your Gadget costs the Earth!
Any innovation has a price tag attached. Your smartphone that you are probably reading
this from too has had an impact on our planet before it even reached your hand. Technology advancements are possible because of the numerous raw materials, natural resources and the
process of manufacturing involved. To our dismay, most of the manufacturing processes
involve practices that are not environment friendly thus impacting our green planet.
The increase in demand for a new gadget every 2-3 years is alarmingly depleting our natural resources. A recent report researched about a year ago said that keeping in mind the current demand for smartphones/electronic gadgets, we would require natural resources equivalent to 1.75 piles of earth!
Most of us are casually aware that our smartphone requires metals in their manufacturing process- of course, we all know that! But did you know that the earth has 17 rare metals and a whopping 16 of these rare earth metals are required to make a smartphone! This is not only depleting our natural resources to almost extinction but the entire process of building a smart electronic gadget is causing severe effects on environmental pollution.
Time to Wake Up!
We all need phone upgrades, faster processors, better camera qualities and other such advanced features in our gadgets to make life smoother. But did you realize that the want for these advancements is making big giants produce smartphones that don’t last longer than an average of 2 years? Many phones are difficult to repair and even if they do, the cost of repairing is so high that it is easy to buy a brand-new smartphone or gadget.
So why would one bother to repair the current gadget when it is economical or easier to just buy a new one? Well, I have a major reason why you shouldn’t do that and it is because of the Environment! 70-80% of carbon is emitted during the manufacture of a single smartphone. So, the longer you use your device, the use of carbon can be minimized per year. But naturally, big brands advertise only the feature advancement in their products but never do they ever tell us about the raw materials used in the same and their impact.
Now that you know the truth, I would sincerely urge you to use your smartphone longer. For obvious reasons, if you buy less the demand falls for these brand-new smartphones every 2 years. Take the initiative and change your buying habits! The time is NOW.
Now that I have got your attention, let me help you with some small but great tips that can help you contribute to Mother Earth!
Sustainable Mobile Phones:
You may ask “What is a sustainable Mobile Phone?” Simply an eco-friendly phone is a sustainable phone. It has low carbon emissions and is manufactured keeping in mind several environment-friendly parameters such as durability or stability, efficiency, repairability, upgradability and even recyclability. GEC (Green Electronics Council) identifies and certifies green electronics and makes the list available to you.
Repair your Gadget first!
Don’t jump to the ground when you see a problem with your gadget. An accidental fall leading to a screen crack can be repaired! Even when you choose a new gadget, do check out its reparability. Are its parts easily available? Is the phone easily upgradable? These small lookouts will put less demand on changing your smartphone frequently.
Refurbished Phones:
So, you tried your best to repair your electronic gadget but with no hope. Have to buy a new phone? Try your hand at buying a refurbished mobile phone. Refurbished phones meet all the requirements and quality of a brand-new smartphone and the only difference is that it was pre-owned and refurbished to meet all the required quality standards.
The advantage of buying refurbished phones you ask? It pinches less on the pocket and you do your bit of contributing to the environment. When you buy a refurbished phone, you will reduce the carbon load on the earth.
Recycling:
Do you realize how your mobile phone can be used when you dispose of it or trade it off with another smartphone? Your disposed mobile phone can be recycled and all valuable parts and components from the gadget can be recovered and reused. Just like you recycle other home stuff to save our planet, you can also recycle your old mobile phone or electronic gadget and do your bit to save our natural resources.
Upcycling:
Bring out your creativity and do some fun things with your old mobile phone instead of just disposing of it. Think and you can put it to useful things. Wait, let me help you out with some ideas. Turn your old mobile phone into a Baby Monitor and guess what, use the camera as a security camera to keep an eye on your little munchkin! Here’s another one – Your smartphone today can even become your music player.
Download your favourite music app and hear music anywhere! You can also now download Movie Apps like Netflix to enjoy entertainment at its best. One Remote, multiple gadgets! Install all the necessary apps on your smartphone for all your entertainment systems at home and it works very well.
Smartphones: Saving the Earth:
This Earth Day, make a difference through your smartphone or electronic gadget. It’s a small but impactful step to save Mother Earth and its depleting natural resources. All you need to do is educate yourself on the choices you have in front of you and keep in mind environmental effects! Global warming is impacting us greatly, and these carbon emissions from electronic gadgets are doing no good even though it is comforting our lives. I am not saying to stop buying these gadgets but when you do so, think and buy mobile phones/electronic gadgets that are economically friendly.
Many brands are now going the Green Way and doing their bit to save our natural resources during the manufacturing process. Look out for and encourage such brands! Many smartphone brands are making conscious efforts in the way they produce, pack and ship products.
A brand like Apple has been introducing more and more initiative into every iPhone it releases and today the iPhone 13 Pro is the Greenest Model yet. It is made with 99% recycled tungsten and 98% recycled rare earth elements. Apparently, Apple products are the first to use 100% certified recycled gold in the plaiting of its main logic board.
The Samsung brand has also launched the Samsung Galaxy S22 series that are eco-friendly. It contains 20% recycled ocean-bound plastic used from discarded fishing nets. It also uses 100% recycled paper for its product packaging. Other popular brands and smartphone models like Fairphone, Teracube 2E, and Motorola Edge are all labelled as the most eco-friendly phones and therefore must make it on your priority list while sorting your purchase.
