Designing for the Dump

1. Designing for the Dump Andrea, Charles and Candida

2. Identifying The Problem • In the historical development of the technical order, with each new step to the next level of electronic evolution, e-waste is generated. • According to an article from the Environmental Impact Assessment Review, “Electronic waste, or e-waste, is an emerging problem as well as a business opportunity of increasing significance, given the volumes of e-waste being generated and the content of both toxic and valuable materials in them (Widmera, Oswald-Krapf, Sinha-Khetriwalb, Schnellmannc & Boni, 2005, p.436). • E-Waste has the potential to have a large environmental impact in many ways. • If the result of companies profiting from electronic evolution consumer desire to have the ‘latest gadget’ is greater amounts of E-Waste, how can companies address the issue of the environmental impact of the discarded, obsolete and broken products consumers can no longer use and still be profitable?

3. Produce greener products • Ex- Lead reduction • According to an article in ‘Science’ magazine, “10% of the lead consumed by U.S. industries was used to produce alloy solders for consumer electronics. Most of these products—such as cell phones and electronic toys—have a short service life, often ending up in a landfill within a few months or years. The disposed lead can leach into the drinking water, posing a severe health risk to humans” (Li, Moon & Wong, 2005, p.1419). • “Attempts to recycle the lead in printed wiring boards of consumer electronic products have not been successful.” (Li et al., 2005, p.1419). In response to this, companies have “stepped up their search for alternatives to lead-containing solders.”, which could be more environmentally friendly” (Li et al., 2005, p.1419). • How company can still profit? • According to research conducted at the University of California, “a number of companies (mostly in Europe and Asia) have embraced the challenge of greener electronics.” And they have found that “producing “greener” CEDs (consumer electronic devices) may not be much more costly than conventional ones. (Saphores, Nixon, Ogunseitan & Shapiro, 2007, p. 23).”

4. Move towards increased Multi-functionality of technology • Ex. Smartphones/Tablets • Improve seperate functions to make on par with single use-devices. • According to Public Works and Government Services Canada “purchasing multifunctional devices reduces the amount of solid waste produced over the life of the asset compared to having multiple single use devices, reducing disposal costs” (2012).How a company can still profit? • “As smartphones become ubiquitous, users will demand the ability to use a single device for all their telephony needs”  (Agarwal, Chandra, Wolman, Bahl, Chin and Gupta, 2007, p.179). • “Multifunctional smartphones combining voice, video camera, email, Internet, computing, diary and GPS assisted LBS are becoming increasingly popular” (Matapurkar, 2006, p.31). • Public demand for multifunctional devices, and knowing that these devices can reduce the amount of electronic products purchased (and therefore wasted) over a lifetime, the move towards creating devices with multiple functions (that are on par with single use-devices) can help a company reduce e-waste as well as help them profit.

5. A Mine above Ground - Recycling Precious Metals from Electronic Scrap • Precious Metals in Electronics: gold, silver, palladium, and platinum - Olympic metals made from recycled e-waste • Improving recycling of these metals means creating awareness of recycling and no longer sending e-waste to foreign countries without proper facilities to properly dispose of the materials • Countries such as India, China and Vietnam have many "backyard" recycling centres for e-waste

6. Plastic, Plastic, and more Plastic The recycling of precious metals although important and vital so these metals do not leech into our water supply, the plastic aspect of recycling electronics is most daunting. Municipalities such as Toronto have begun curbside recycling programs for electronics. Become informed of the policies in your municipality. 

7. Cloud Computing - Storage as a Service • Similar to the multifunctionality of products if we move to cloud computing it would save user from having to us external hard drives, usb keys and other devices for portability • Companies like Apple and Windows charge for Cloud computing, therefore instead of selling devices they can rent out space on the cloud • There will always be open source options for cloud computing

8. Marketing and Making a Profit • Companies engage in marketing practices that manipulate the public into believing they constantly need the newest available technology • Companies and their marketing tactics are simply one factor in generating e-waste, and some may argue they are merely taking advantage of technological determinism, which asserts that “changes in technology exert a greater influence on societies and their processes than any other factor” (Smith, Marx, 1994, p. 2) • Corporations have engaged in what has been referred to as “planned obsolescence” in which manufacturers purposely design products to last a short amount of time to ensure consumers have to purchase these products again (Cade, 2010) • Will e-waste continue to exist?  Sustainability can actually help

9. Learning and E-Waste • One solution to lessening e-waste is educating consumers on how to repair their products instead of purchasing new ones • Providing support is also a chance for companies to gain a profit, as they can charge for any extended services. Apple does exactly this; they offer a protection plan, which the consumer has to purchase

10. References Agarwal, Y., Chandra, R., Wolman, A., Bahl, P., Chin, K., Gupta, R.  (2007). Wireless wakeups revisited: energy management for voip over wi-fi smartphones.  Proceedings of the 5th international conference on Mobile systems, applications and services.  ACM, New York, NY: 179-191. Hageluken, C. (2006). Improving metal returns and co-efficiency in electronics recycling.  Proceedings of the 2006 IEEE International Symposium on Electronics and the Environment. Li, Y., Moon, K., Wong, C.  (2005).  Electronics Without Lead.  Science Magazine. Vol. 38.  1419-1420. Matapurkar, K.  (2006). Location Based Services.  Proceedings from National Conference GEO Informatics. Thane: 31- 33. Rajkumar Buyya, Chee Shin Yeo, Srikumar Venugopal, James Broberg, Ivona Brandic, Cloud computing and emerging IT platforms: Vision, hype, and reality for delivering computing as the 5th utility, Future Generation Computer Systems, Volume 25, Issue 6, June 2009, Pages 599-616, (http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0167739X08001957) Public Works and Government Services Canada.  (2012). Life Cycle Considerations.  Retrieved from the Public Works and Government Services Canada website: http://www.tpsgc-pwgsc.gc.ca/ecologisation-greening/achats-procurement/trousse-toolkit/page-2-eng.html Saphores, J.M., Nixon, H., Ogunseitan, O., Shapiro, A.  (2007). California Households’ Willingness to Pay for “Green” Electronics.   University of California Irvine.  Irvine: Postprints.Widmera, R., Oswald-Krapf, H., Sinha-Khetriwalb D., Schnellmannc, M., Boni, H. (2005).  Global Perspectives on E-Waste.  Environmental Impact Assessment Review. Vol 25. 436– 458. Cade, Amy. (2010). Design for Disposal: The Premature End to Today’s Electronics and other Products. Sustainable Electronics Initiative Blog. Retrieved from http://wp.istc.illinois.edu/sei/tag/designing-for-the-dump/ Roe Smith, Merritt & Marx, Leo. (1994). Does Technology Drive History? The Dilemma of Technological Determinism. Retrieved from http://books.google.ca/books?id=WWztFfsA-QEC&printsec=frontcover&dq=technological+determinism&hl=en&sa=X&ei=YSEaT7ncD-Hi0QG1jc2bCw&ved=0CDAQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=technological%20determinism&f=false Schwartz, Ariel. (2010). Is it Green? The Apple iPad. Inhabitat. Retrieved from http://inhabitat.com/how-green-is-apples-ipad/