One of the biggest headlines from recent weeks was that Google Stadia, the company’s cloud gaming service, was to end. This kind of closure isn’t particularly unusual but, in Stadia’s case, it did serve as a reminder of just how wasteful the technology industry can be. Unless Google unlocks Bluetooth functionality on the Stadia controller, more than a million plastic gamepads are going in the bin.
Replacements
This is called e-waste. The UK government makes it mandatory for retailers of electronic goods to provide a free ‘take back’ service for old and unloved technology but the UK is still reportedly the third largest e-waste producer in Europe, according to Statista, behind Russia and Germany. The Eurostat website claims that only three countries in the EU achieved a 65% target for e-waste collection in 2019.
Source: Pexels
Inevitably, mobile phones form a large part of the world’s rubbish. Around a third of households possess three or more smartphones in the United States, for instance. This means that a biannual trend of replacement pumps tonnes of plastic and toxic metals into landfill, potentially harming wildlife and human health. Other than take-back schemes, though, what exactly are consumers supposed to do with all this waste?
One piece of advice is to keep older devices around as replacements. In its “tech survival kit”, the ExpressVPN website recommends that householders create a package of electronic supplies to help stave off misfortune or disaster, including at least two phones. These should be a standard handset, complete with a SIM card and charger, and a satellite phone, devices that are readily available online.
Giving older phones and tablets to family members is also a popular means of ‘disposing’ of an unwanted device.
Fair Treatment
While it might make sense to repair broken devices, phone companies deliberately make this difficult by preventing the sale of official parts on the open market. This kind of behaviour, combined with all the e-waste we’re sitting on, has boosted the appeal of green-aligned manufacturers like Fairphone. This Dutch brand makes all kinds of claims about sustainability, including fairly sourced materials and a fully repairable design.
The Fairphone is also made entirely from old devices, meaning that it’s not taking anything else from the planet and exacerbating the global lithium shortage (for example). A smartphone brand that makes similar promises to the environment is the former Indiegogo campaign Teracube, which claims to have products that last up to four years, and the German outfit Shift. The latter company is focused more on the fair treatment of workers.
The obvious question to ask here is what about investment? The audience for products that don’t cause more damage to the environment is growing alongside the concept of greener funding. For instance, the WWF website claims that searches for environmentally friendly items grew 71% in 2020. As an industry, energy remains the obvious destination for funding, but transportation, waste, farming, and even water infrastructure are attracting investor money.
Sadly, there is still a long way to go if the combined efforts of tech corporations and governments are to reverse decades of climate inaction.