In our increasingly technological world, we are more dependent on our electronic
devices than ever before. Consumers are prepared to spend their latest paychecks
on the newest models of phones and laptops — even if the differences and
upgrades are minimal. This trend is picking up speed, with the global market for
consumer electronics projected to
explode
from $689.45 billion in 2020 to $989.37 billion in 2027.
While tech companies can’t wait to tell you about their new releases, what they
don’t tell you about is the waste that each upgrade generates. E-waste is now a
global problem — 53.6 million tonnes of
e-waste
is produced each year. And with tech giants such as Apple releasing two new
iPhones each year and e-waste
recycling at a depressing 10
percent,
the tidal wave will only continue to grow.
In addition to the egregious waste of microchips (of which there is an ongoing
global
shortage),
rare metals (the UN
estimates $10bn worth end up in landfills and
waterways
each year) and other usable components in each discarded device, the ‘tsunami’
of e-waste also contains highly toxic chemicals such as mercury, lead,
beryllium, brominated flame retardants and cadmium — putting the environment and
millions of
lives
at risk when they leach into our soil, air and waterways.
The tech world must be held accountable and planned obsolescence as a model must
end. But while electronics recycling, industry
partnerships
aimed at increasing circular practices, and marketplaces for refurbished
devices
are growing in popularity around the world, they won’t be a match for the
throwaway approach of the broader industry anytime soon. But some smaller, more
intrepid brands are proving there’s validity and demand for longer-lasting,
easy-to-repair electronics.
Opening access to sustainable design
Join us at SB'24 San Diego (October 14-17) as Prakash Arunkundrum — Logitech's Head of Global Operations and Sustainability — shares insights from search for next-generation materials, components and processes to develop superior products with sustainability as a high design priority.
The trailblazer, Netherlands-based Fairphone,
was born from a disruptive idea — that smartphones could be produced more
ethically and sustainably. The certified B Corp evolved from an awareness
campaign about conflict minerals into a phone company in 2013, when it released
the modular Fairphone 1 — developed with easy repair in mind. Since then,
the tiny social enterprise has been chipping
away
at some of the smartphone industry’s dirtiest bits — and has been slowly and
steadily setting a much higher bar for how phones and other electronics are
produced: Fairphone achieved the first-ever Fairtrade-certified gold supply
chain
for consumer electronics, has received top reparability scores
from iFixit;
and in 2016, the company achieved an industry first: fully transparent sourcing
for all four conflict
materials
(tin, tantalum, tungsten and gold), used in the production of all
smartphones. The company is also leading the charge for ethical sourcing of
cobalt,
through a series of
partnerships
aimed at improving conditions in high-risk areas such as the DRC.
Image credit: Fairphone
The Fairphone
4,
released in 2021, comes with a five-year warranty and an ‘e-waste-neutral’
handset. This means that for every Fairphone 4 sold, the company pledges to
recycle or refurbish one phone or an equal amount of small electronic waste.
“Fairphone's modular design aims to make it easy for anyone to open and repair.
This allows users to keep their phones for longer, reducing e-waste and the
overall carbon footprint associated with the device,” Ioiana Luncheon, PR &
Communications Manager at Fairphone, told
Sustainable Brands®. “While the modular infrastructure also enables
upgrades, our primary focus is longevity. Using modularity just for the sake of
fashion or fast-paced technological upgrades could be at the expense of the
environment and is therefore not our focus. We designed the Fairphone 4 in a way
that will keep it technologically relevant for years to come.”
Meanwhile, a newer player is applying the modular approach to laptops:
California-based Framework, founded in 2019, produces
high-performance laptops designed for easy assembly, upgrade and repair.
“The best way to reduce the environmental impact of consumer electronics
products is to make them last longer, resulting in fewer being manufactured and
eventually entering the waste stream,” Framework CEO Nirav Patel told SB.
“With easy upgradeability, consumers can swap just the parts they need to and
keep using their current device, rather than needing to replace the entire
product.”
Image credit: Framework
To ensure that it keeps up with industry advancements, Framework has an
extensive roadmap of tech upgrades in development. It released the first set of
them earlier this year with its 12th Gen Intel
Core upgrade, which delivers
nearly twice as much performance for multi-core applications within the same
chassis; in September, the company released the Framework Laptop Chromebook
Edition,
in partnership with Google.
“With the Framework Laptop, we've proven that it is possible to build thin,
light, high-performance products that are still easy to upgrade and repair,”
Patel asserts. “With that proof point, we hope that consumers will put pressure
on tech companies and vote with their wallets to buy products that are designed
for repairability.”
Designing phones and laptops that can be easily repaired by the average user was
critical to both companies’ mission to create a movement behind device
longevity.
“We didn't want to limit the benefits of upgradability to people already
familiar with repair; so, we kept things simple,” Patel explains. “We included
the only tool needed in the box, designing fasteners to be captive where we
could (meaning they stay attached to the part they fasten), and putting QR codes
and labels everywhere to make it easy to follow our step-by-step guides.”
Overcoming these developmental challenges was a vital step that has allowed both
Fairphone and Framework to prove the concept of more ethically and sustainably
produced electronics to tech developers, showcase what is possible with
repairable electronics and put sustainability into the industry’s narrative.
Image credit: Fairphone
By illustrating the possibilities for better electronics, Fairphone and
Framework are spearheading a much-needed shift toward a sustainable, circular
consumer electronics industry. Both companies believe in a future built on a
foundation of product longevity, fairness and repairability with reduced
consumer waste streams — still with limitless growth potential.
“We hope that every product we've shipped is still in active use in some form in
five years,” Patel says. “We see the same problems occurring across all consumer
electronics — we started with the Framework Laptop; but we'll be taking this
product philosophy and mission across consumer electronics, one category at a
time.”
“When we started, supply chain sustainability wasn’t a focus in the industry.
The conversation has matured — however, there is still a lot of work to do,”
Luncheon says. “We are planning on further increasing our presence and
strengthening our position in the industry to maximize our positive impact
throughout the whole value chain. In the future, we hope to see more industry
competition on sustainability and fairness — indicating that other players in
the industry are following our lead!”
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Scarlett Buckley is a London-based freelance sustainability writer with an MSc in Creative Arts & Mental Health.
Published Oct 6, 2022 2pm EDT / 11am PDT / 7pm BST / 8pm CEST