Circular economy could solve the smartphone-waste problem

Do you remember the first time you bought a cellphone?

Where is it? It could have been given to a friend or sold. Perhaps it is still in a corner of your home or in a drawer.

The production of a smartphone requires a lot. A typical smartphone requires around 12.760 litres waterThis is the equivalent of around 160 bathtubs worth of water. A smartphone’s production emits 60 kilograms (or more) of carbon dioxide. Green AllianceThe independent think-tank focuses on environmental policy. 

The manufacturing of smartphones has a significant environmental impact. According to Environmental Protection AgencyManufacturing is the third largest contributor to US greenhouse gas emissions after transportation and electricity. This sector accounts for 25 percent of the country’s total energy consumption.

The products we use are often made with newly extracted materials. The amount of resources we extract has increased. More than tripled in size since 1970The global consumption of materials totals Every year, more than 100 milliards of tons are produced.Recycling rates are low despite the fact that consumption has risen. Just Recyclable materials account for 8.6% of all the materials we use each year.

Could a Circular Economy make a Difference?

Circular economy is a solution that some industry leaders believe can reduce waste while reducing greenhouse gas emissions. 

Try to imagine it. We have a linear process right now. We take materials, turn them into products and use them, then discard them. Ellen MacArthur Foundation calls this circular economy. “Take-make”-waste (TMW) system. Imagine your first mobile phone. It is likely at “waste” status right now.

A circular economy is based on the idea that you can take a “straight-line” system and convert it into a closed cycle. The main idea is to maintain materials within the closed loop as long as you can. Imagine components from your original cellphone being used in the current model, or that it would be easy to upgrade your first phone and still use it.

Circularity gap reporting initiative researchOnly 7.2% of global economic activity is circular.

You can create a circular economic system in many ways. The first step is to design products that are durable and easy to repair. Once a product can no longer be repaired, it can be remanufactured — which is when you disassemble a product and make a new version of the product with used parts. Recycling — when materials are repurposed into a new product and put back together again — is the final step. You can use waste to create resources when you recycle.

Alice Bodreau is the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s partnership lead. She said there are three main pillars to a circular economy strategy: creating products that do not create waste or pollution, recirculating materials you place on the market and regenerating the environment.

Anne Velenturf told Insider, a senior fellow of the University of Leeds that adopting circular economy doesn’t mean that consumers are losing out. She said that research has shown we can still all live a high-quality life if resources are shared more evenly across society.

Waste is a Resource

Recycling is not just a solution to our waste problem, it also helps reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Recycling materials avoids a significant portion of the energy-intensive mining and manufacturing processes. For example, the production of recycled metal requires Steel production requires between 10 and 15 percent of the energy used to manufacture new steel.

Not everything can be recycled. Imagine the phone or computer you’re using to read this. It’s made of many different minerals and materials.

Peter Afiuny, who co-founded the magnet manufacturing company, was aware of this problem. The evening of November. 

Afiuny, a reporter for Insider, said that “in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the products that we consumed as a culture started to be more complex, both in terms of their product and the components used.” The waste industry hasn’t caught up with how to extract more critical components.

Afiuny was a former worker in the recycling industry and wanted to discover a more efficient way to “surgically remove” components which would otherwise be thrown out.

Noveon was created to manufacture rare-earth magnets using recycled materials. Afiuny claims that the post-consumer recycling rate for rare earth magnetic materials is less than 3%. The “mine-to magnet” process is energy and waste intensive and involves potentially hazardous chemicals. Afiuny stated that “we invented a process which bypassed all these upstream techniques”.

Permanent magnets are needed for many things, including electric vehicles and windmills.

Afiuny stated that the majority of magnetic materials used in Afiuny’s products come from old devices such as hard disks, motors, medical devices and energy systems.

Afiuny, speaking to Insider, said that he viewed Noveon’s approach to manufacturing as part of an industry-wide shift. “I believe that there is a general trend to develop regional supply chain, especially since companies are becoming global entities. They’re also looking for ways of reducing their carbon footprint,” Afiuny said.

Design matters

Bodreau says that circular economy encompasses more than recycling.

“Recycling works like a leak in your home. You mop the floor and do everything else afterward,” she explained. “The circular economic model is all about shutting off the water and fixing the leak. It’s not about mopping up the floor every day.”

Design is one way to “turn off the tap”. Bodreau explained that “redesigning your way of operating and how you design your product will ensure it never ends up in the world as a leak.”

This is the principle of the electronics company FairphoneIt is put into practice. Amsterdam-based company produces just two types: smartphones and headsets. The company’s smartphones are not glued together and can be easily disassembled, making them easier to repair.

Insider reported that “75% of the emissions associated with a smartphone are generated during production.” Anna Jopp is Fairphone’s Press Officer. This means, to us, that the best way to reduce emissions from smartphones is to make fewer phones. The best way to do this is to keep using the phones that we have as long as you can.

Jopp stated that by keeping your phone five years rather than three, the carbon footprint of the phone could be reduced by 31%.

Fairfone, Jopp explained, tries to make products that are easily repairable and modular in design to encourage customers to keep their phones for as long as they can.  She said that the longer a phone is used, and the less new products are needed to be manufactured, the better.

The Renewable Challenge

Ellen MacArthur Foundation estimates there will be By 2050, there will be 43 million tonnes of waste blades generated by wind turbines.The Renewable Energy Agency estimates there will be between Solar panel waste – 78 MtBy 2050. ReBlade, a UK-based company, is trying to stay ahead of the curve in the renewable energy industry. 

Fiona Lindsay, cofounder of ReBlade, told Insider the team was working to prevent wind turbine material from ending up in landfills. Many parts of wind turbines are recyclable, but the blades made from fiberglass cannot be recycled. 

The company has developed solutions for the repurposing of wind-turbines blades after they are no longer able to produce power. The company’s flagship project is to use decommissioned blades as canopies at charging stations for electric vehicles.

Lindsay stated that “the newness” of this sector is a major obstacle. “Until now blades only had to be brought down in small numbers due to damage,” she explained.

“In the coming years, blades are going to be in their thousands when wind-farms are repowered by bigger turbines,” said she. This means that site owners and operators do not yet have standard procurement procedures or blade-removal processes.

Lindsay stated that “it takes a great deal of energy and resource to manufacture these blades. We believe reusing is a much better option.”

The ‘win-win solution’

Velenturf stated that adopting the circular economy principles has many benefits, such as access to new markets and clients, and increased security in material supply, which reduces costs and risks.

Circular solutions are also catching on with policymakers. In Paris in June, 180 nations met to discuss a treaty that would regulate plastics. Bodreau called the meeting a “big way forward.” New York State’s recent Digital Fair Repair ActThe goal is to make it easier to find the information and parts needed to repair electronic devices.

Lindsay believes that the circular model is a good idea. “We have a finite amount of resources so we need to find innovative new ways to reuse resources through second- or even third-life uses after they have been used in their initial applications — a win-win for everybody.”