What makes a sustainable product?
The things to look for in a sustainable product are:
-Whether the materials used to make the product can be recycled after use to make new products or remake the original product.
-Whether the materials used to make the product are eco friendly.
-Whether the workers (who gathered the materials used to make the product and the workers who put the product together) work under good conditions and get payed appropriately for their work.
-Whether the product is long-lasting so that the consumer can use it as long as possible and won’t throw it away quickly.
One of the biggest problems/debates in the world right now is the over-use of plastic. Plastic is in almost every product you can buy and it is a huge problem as it is one of the least sustainable materials on earth. Plastic takes an extremely long time to decompose (almost 450 years). This is extremely bad as it pollutes the earth which kills fish, other marine animals and land animals.
It is predicted, that by the year 2050 there will be more plastic than fish in the ocean.
There are three main things that need to be considered when making a sustainable product. These are the three ‘pillars of sustainability’:
The first thing (pillar) to consider when making a sustainable product is ‘Environment’. This is made possible by using the LCA method. The purpose of the ‘Life Cycle Analysis’ (LCA) method is to compare all of the possible environmental effects caused by the production of products. This is done by calculating the gain and loss of materials and assessing how the material flows affect the environment. This information is used to improve the process of making the product and it is also used to provide an example for later decisions.
The second pillar that is considered when making a sustainable product is ‘Social’. ‘Social Life Cycle Analysis’ (SLCA) is a method that is used to assess the social and sociological aspects of a product and it is also used to assess the products positive and negative impacts along the course of the life cycle. SLCA includes assessing the extraction and processing of raw materials, manufacturing the product, distribution of the product, product use/reuse, recycling and final disposal. Just like LCA, the information gathered by using the SLCA method is used to improve the process of making the product and it is also used to provide an example for later decisions.
The third and final pillar that is considered when making a sustainable product is ‘Economic’. ‘Life Cycle Costing’ (LCC) is a method that is used to estimate the overall costs of product alternatives, to ensure that everyone working on the product is payed fairly and it also helps to choose the design that ensures the lowest overall cost based on the product’s overall quality and how well it functions. The LCC method is usually performed early in the design process while there is still a chance to refine the design. This ensures that the Life Cycle Cost is as efficient as possible for the quality of the product.
As shown in the diagram on the right, to make a product as sustainable as possible, you have to consider all three of the pillars. If you only consider the social and economic sides, then the product is only equitable (fair for everyone involved but not good for the environmental aspect). If you only consider the environmental and the economic sides, then the product is only viable (capable of working successfully but not good for the social aspect). And if you only consider the environmental and the social sides, then the product is only bearable (capable of being tolerated but not good for the economic aspect). Only when all three of these pillars are considered, do you get a sustainable product.
In this report, I am going to be discussing the sustainability in the development and design of Smart Phones. I will also be discussing the life cycle of a Smart Phone and its impact, and how it links with the relationship between Life Cycle Design, Innovation and Sustainability. I will also discuss the negative impacts the design and production of Smart Phones has on the earth and what can be done to prevent this.
Life Cycle of a Smart Phone:
The life cycle of a Smart Phone is made up by five different stages. These stages are: Material Extraction, Processing of Materials, Factory, Use, and Disposal.
Material Extraction Stage:
The 1st stage in the life cycle of a Smart Phone is the extraction of raw materials. Smart Phones are made of a variety of different metals, plastic and ceramic. The three most important metals in a Smart Phone are: Cobalt, Tantalum and Copper.
Raw materials are usually extracted using surface mining which uses large areas of land. In order to use the land, trees and wildlife are removed.
Cobalt is used for the battery in a Smart Phone. The Republic of Congo in Africa is the largest Cobalt extractor in the world. Approximately 150,000 Congolese work in Cobalt mines. These mines are cold and extremely unsafe due to the lack of protective equipment. The miners work long hours and have very low wages. This has a negative impact on both the social and the economic pillars (of the three pillars of sustainability) and this means that the product is not sustainable.
Large amounts of Tantalum are also extracted in the Republic of Congo. Back in the 1990s during the Congo Civil War, the money that Congo made from extracting Tantalum was used for making weapons instead of on things that are actually important such as education, roads and crops. Incidences like this are happening all over the world today, where countries are using the money they make on things that are not for the benefit of the country, when they could be using it for things that will grow and develop it instead.
The problem in the Congo is very similar to what is going on now in Syria. Syria exports a lot of Crude Oil and natural gas (needed to process the materials) overseas. Just like the Congo in the 1990s, Syria is in the middle of a huge Civil War at the moment. Almost all of the money that the country makes is used for weaponry. This has a huge negative impact on the social pillar (of the three pillars of sustainability) meaning that the companies who get their Crude Oil and natural gas from Syria are not making a sustainable product but only a viable one instead.
Processing of Materials Stage:
The 2nd stage in the life cycle of a Smart Phone is the processing of the raw materials gathered. In order for the materials to be usable and safe for Smart Phone manufacturers to use, they have to be processed. The plastics used in Smart Phones, such as Polycarbonate, are processed using a combination of the Crude Oil and natural gas sourced from countries such as Syria, and chemicals. The plastics are processed in a large processing plant and then shipped to the factories ready for manufacturing.
The metals used in a Smart Phone are processed by grinding the extracted ore (solid material that contains metal or valuable minerals) to isolate it into pure metal pieces. The metal is then heated and treated with chemicals to make sure the metals are usable for the manufacturers.
The large amount of chemicals needed to process the plastics and metals is very bad for the earth as the water and soil become polluted, the water is undrinkable, and the crops planted in the soil are inedible.
The chemicals used in the processing of the plastics and metals for a Smart Phone have a negative impact on the environmental pillar (of the three pillars of sustainability). This means that a product made of plastics/metals which have been processed using chemicals, is not a sustainable product but only an equitable product.
Factory Stage:
The 3rd stage in the life cycle of a Smart Phone is the factory stage. This stage includes the manufacturing and the packaging of the product.
The processed materials are then shipped off to large factories, usually in India or China where the individual parts of the Smart Phone are put together and then the whole thing assembled. These factories are run by companies such as Flextronics, Salcom and Foxconn. Foxconn is one of the biggest electronics producing companies in the world and approximately 1.7 Million people work for them. Just like the mines in the Congo, the working conditions at these factories are terrible. The workers are forced to work extremely long hours, they are constantly getting injured, and they get paid very little for their work (sometimes only $400 per month). There have been multiple incidences of workers committing suicide at Foxconn factories. This has a negative impact for both the social and the economic pillars (of the three pillars of sustainability) meaning that the product is definitely not sustainable.
Phone Being Used Stage:
The 4th stage in the life cycle of a Smart Phone is use. The average Smart Phone consumer in the United States of America buys a new Smart Phone every 15 months. Usually a Smart Phone lasts only 18 months before it starts having problems, which forces the user to buy a new phone. However, when Smart Phone companies such as Apple and Samsung release new phones every 1-2 years, consumers want to have the newest phone possible, and they simply throw out their ‘old’ phone and buy a new one.
Disposal Stage:
The 5th and final stage in the life cycle of a Smart phone is disposal. Approximately 800 Million Smart Phones are disposed of every single year and only 8% of those phones are recycled. Apple recently introduced two robots called Liam and Daisy that are made to take apart iPhones so that parts can be reused. Liam can take apart an iPhone 6 in just eleven seconds and Daisy can take apart up to 350 phones an hour. The screws are recycled in new phones, and silver that is found in circuits is given to other companies and used in solar panels. This is a very good start for Apple as they are trying to recycle as much as possible from disposed Smart Phones.
Not only do Smart Phones increase the amount of waste going to landfills, but they also contain toxic materials such as lead, mercury, cadmium and chromium. These toxic materials pollute the earth, making a lot of water undrinkable and food inedible.
97% of the Earth's water is salt water found in the ocean. Another 2% of the Earth’s water is frozen in icecaps and glaciers. This means that less than 1% of the Earth's water is actually drinkable, and this percentage is decreasing due to the Earth’s increasing pollution.
The disposal of Smart Phones has a negative impact on the environmental pillar (of the three pillars of sustainability), meaning that all companies which produce Smart Phones are making products that are not sustainable but only equitable. No company has come up with a solution of preventing Smart Phones from ending up in landfill yet.
The life cycle of a Smart Phone has many negative impacts on the environment, the economy and on society.
During the Material Extraction Stage, the main problem is the social pillar. The money that the countries earn from distributing the materials is being used on things such as weapons for war. In order for the product to be sustainable, the companies need to get the desired materials from countries that use the money for things that can make their country better (or other more important things than war).
During the Material Processing Stage, the main problem is the environmental pillar. In order for the product to be considered sustainable, the companies need to use a processing plant that does not use chemicals which pollute the earth, even if it means that it is more expensive.
During the Factory Stage of the life cycle of a Smart Phone, the main problems are the social and economic pillars. In order for the phone to be a sustainable product, the companies need to have their Smart Phones manufactured in a factory where the working conditions are safe and the workers get paid fairly.
During the stage where the phone is being used, the main problem is how often consumers are forced to throw out Smart Phones. In order for the product to be sustainable, the companies need to ensure that the phone lasts as long as possible.
Disposal is one of the most negatively impacting stages of the life cycle of a Smart Phone. The main problem with this stage is the environmental pillar. In order for a Smart Phone to be sustainable, the company needs to have a way of making sure that phones are not being thrown away and put into landfills, so that there is no pollution from the toxic materials used.
Relationship between Life Cycle, Innovation and Sustainability:
The term ‘Life Cycle’ means that to ensure that the overall analysis is fair, there needs to be an assessment of raw-material production, manufacturing, distribution, use of the product, and disposal of the product. It should also include all transportation needed for, or caused by the product.
A life cycle analysis is used to improve every step of designing and creating future products. The most important stage of a Smart Phone’s life cycle which could be improved is disposal. Most Smart Phones are thrown away and they are immediately put into landfills. The toxic materials used in the phone then cause pollution and harm the environment in many different ways.
In 2012, Nokia made their way up to 3rd in the list of the most Environmentally friendly electronic companies in the world after releasing the Nokia Lumia 820 Smart Phone. This phone uses only materials that are environmentally friendly such as bio-based materials and recycled metals. The phone does not use any brominated or chlorinated compounds and is also free of antimony trioxide, polyvinyl chloride and nickel which all have a negative impact on the environment (some more than others).
The phone is packaged using 60% recycled materials and the packaging itself is 100% recyclable. When recycling this Smart Phone, everything can be used again as either materials or energy. This Smart Phone designed and produced by Nokia is extremely innovative (original and a very creative new idea) because they used the Life Cycle Analysis method to see where there were problems in the life cycle of their phones and they used that information to make the Nokia Lumia 820 extremely sustainable.
Life cycle, innovation and sustainability are all very important when designing and making a new product. You can use the life cycle to see what is wrong with the original product (maybe a prototype) and then you can use the information gathered to be innovative and change the design of the product to make it more sustainable.
Conclusion:
Product sustainability is one of the most important things in the world. If a product is sustainable, then it is protecting the environment and ensuring stability in society and the economy. The three ways of making sure of this is by using the LCA, SLCA and LCC methods.
If more companies made Smart Phones like the Nokia Lumia 820, then the world would be so much better off. The Nokia 820 ensures maximum sustainability in a great quality product and every single part of it can be recycled. More and more Smart Phone companies are introducing a system where you can give back your old phones and they will recycle as much as possible for new phones. This is a huge step towards making the Smart Phone industry as sustainable as possible. Companies such as Samsung and Apple have recently introduced policies where the designers of their new phones have to consider sustainability and the possible effects on the environment.
If sustainability isn’t considered or taken seriously when designing a product, the ongoing pollution of Earth will be devastating and the percentage of drinkable water and edible crops will continue to drop. It is pointless for large amounts of land and forestry to be destroyed to source materials for products that provide pleasure for humans for a short time, when they will only be thrown out and have an ongoing negative impact on the Earth in the future.
Bibliography:
https://www.smartcitiesdive.com/ex/sustainablecitiescollective/circling-sustainability/222871/
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life-cycle_assessment
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https://www.wbdg.org/resources/life-cycle-cost-analysis-lcca
https://www.quora.com/What-are-Syrias-natural-resources
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syrian_Civil_War
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