Ethical Consumption of Cell Phones Essay

1. INTRODUCTION In fair 30 years, mobile telephony has grown into a major international industry, with an estimated 5 billion maprs nigh the world, compargond with a total world creation of around 7 billion people. dapple refreshed subscriber increment has slowed somewhat in recent years, product turn over remains high up, with over 1 billion new mobile promises shipped in 2009 alone. This paper first examines the life wheel around of a cadreular tele earpiece phone, describing its stages from the extraction of the materials to its inclination or re-usage possibilities. It withal discussed the ethical issues that impact the milieu and society. Lastly, two cadre phone manufactures ( apple and Nokia) ar existence compargond in terms of how they deal with environmental impacts.2. flavor CYCLE OF A CELL PHONEStage One rootage of Materials Mobile phones gener everyy comprise approximately 40% metals and 40% plastics, with the rest made up of furnish, ceramic and for mer(a) mis jail stallaneous materials. The parts of a electric cell phone accommodate the tour board, the liquid crystal expose (LCD) and the rechargeable battery. The circuit board, which rigs all of the phones functions, consists of copper, g senile, silver, lead, nickel, tin, coltan, and zinc. The LCD, which is a flat-panel peril where all the information and images appear, is made of glass or plastic. Batteries power the cell phone and, depending on the type of battery, may contain nickel, cobalt, zinc, cadmium and copper. many a(prenominal) of these materials be so called persistent toxins that remain in the environment for a long period of time, even after disposal. Furthermore, an important life cycle consideration is the energy required to extract metals from their respective ores. From an energy perspective, curious metals gold and silver and exceed the impact of copper. In addition, the energy nub of glass also has a signifi merchant shipt energy footprint, due t o the high melt temperatures that be required during manufacturing.Stage Two Materials Processing raw materials that go into making cell phones must first be neat before manufacturers implantation use them. For example, to keep got the plastic casing, bleak cover unavoidably to be combined with natural gas and chemicals. The copper apply to make the circuit board and batteries has to be mined from the ground, heated and treated with chemicals and galvanisingity before it enkindle be formed into wires and sheets. Stage ternion ManufacturingThe individual parts of a cell phone severally go through a manufacturing march. The circuit board is shaped utilize plastics and fiberglass and then coated with gold plating. The circuits and wires of the circuit board are soldered, glue and coated. The LCD is made with liquid crystals layered amid glass or plastic. These layers include two polarized panels, with a liquid crystal solution between them. Light is projected throu gh the layer of liquid crystals and is colorized, which get ups the visible image. Batteries give way two electrodes ( twain made from a different metal) and for each one electrode is touched by a liquid material called electrolytes. When an outlet or a nonher orthogonal electrical source is applied, a chemical reaction between the electrodes and the electrolytes causes an electric current to flow and powers the battery. Stage Four publicity and TransportationThe expatriate process and packaging of cell phones is seen as harmful to the environment. Transporting cell phones for statistical distri saveion requires the use of fossil fuels for energy, which can pass on to global climate change. While packaging protects products from damage, identifies contents, and provides information, excessive or decorative packaging contributes to the waste that we produce. Packaging consumes expensive natural resources, such as paper (from trees), plastic (from crude oil in the earth), alumi nium (from ore), or other materials, all of which use energy to produce and can result in waste. Some packaging, however, can be made from re utilize materials. Stage Five Useful LifeYou can extend the use of your cell phone by taking nigh care of it as in protecting it from damage by storing it in a case, avoiding dropping it, and keeping it out of extreme heat and inhuman and away from water and other liquids. However, the materials that are used to make cell phones can potentially damage the environment and harm people. Therefore, it is important to reuse, recycle or properly dispose cell phones.Reuse Many organizations, including recyclers, charities, and electronics manufacturers, take in landing cell phones and offer them to schools, community organizations, and individuals in need. Reuse gives people, who could not otherwise afford them, free or reduced cost main course to new phones and this also extends the useful lifetime of a phone.Recycle Nowadays, many stores, manuf acturers, and recycle centres accept cell phones for recycling. Some cell phones can be fixed and sold as refurbished phones, or parts can be used to fix phones. Some rechargeable batteries can also be recycled, as this way the recovered materials can be used to make new batteries and stainless steel products.Disposal However, most 40% of cell phones cant be sold as refurbished cell phones. These cell phones are shredded as well as smelted at a copper refiner. Many metals actually go back to their natural state. This process helps replenish some natural resources and it is called above ground mining. S money box, many cell phones are simply throw in the trash and end up in landfills (buried in the ground) or incinerators (burned). Because cell phones contain metals, plastics, chemicals, and other potentially hazardous substances, they should always be recycled or properly disposed. Phones that are thrown away waste energy and result in the loss of valuable resources.This figure s hows the cell phone recycling rate from 2007 to 2010 in the linked Stated. Even though sales events were the highest in 2010, the recycling rate did not correspond to the sales.3. ETHICAL ISSUES 1. Energy Conservation The quantity of mobile phone usage increases any environmental impact of this product. Life-cycle analysis conducted by the European Commission shows that energy consumption is the greatest impact, both during manufacture of components and during their usage. Nokia estimated that if 10% of worldwide subscribers would unplug their chargers once their phone is full charged, the energy salve could to supply 60,000 European homes for one year. Issues like wastage of energy due to overcharging and or mobiles left unplugged even after being fully charged needs to be addressed more. 2. Exploitation & Illegal TradingThe material used in the manufacturing of the mobile phones is coltan, a heat resistant material found in the Republic of Congo. In the Coltan, mines there are children that nurture to work instead of going to school and many reputable companies buy this mineral. Companies make up to resort to material provided by controversial circumstances. What is Coltan?Coltan, short for coltan is a metallic ore comprising niobium and tantalum. The niobium-dominant mineral in coltan is columbite, and the tantalum-dominant mineral is tantalite. Niobium, whose leading producer in Brazil, is mostly found in the mineral pyrochlore whereas tantalum is extracted from the ore, tantalite and is created by smelting and tin mining in some places. atomic number 73 mineral is mainly mined in Australia, Brazil, Canada, Democratic Republic of Congo, China, Ethiopia, Mozambique and other central African countries. Coltan is important for manufacturing cell phones because it is in the capacitors that control current flow in the cell phones circuit board. When refined, coltan becomes a heat resistant powder, metallic tantalum which has ridiculous properties for sto ring electrical charge. Mining ColtanIn the Coltan is mined by hand in the Congo by groups of men digging basins in streams by scrapping off the surface mud. They then slosh the water around the crater, which causes the Coltan ore to settle at the bottom of the crater where it is retrieved by the miners. A team can mine one kilo of Coltan per day. about of these miners are children which are subjected to extreme conditions. Therefore, a fighteness has to be brought to these terrible on the job(p) conditions by which these child workers are affected.Coltan financing war A recent report by the UN has claimed that all the parties involved in the local civil war have been involved in the mining and sale of Coltan. One report suggested that the neighbouring Rwandan army made US$250 million from interchange Coltan in less than 18 months, despite there being no Coltan in Rwanda to mine. The military forces of Uganda and Burundi are also implicated in smuggling Coltan out of Congo for r esale in Belgium. A report to the United Nations Security Council has called for a moratorium on leverage and import of resources from the Democratic Republic of Congo, due to the ongoing civil war that has dragged in the surrounding countries. 3. Toxics Waste disposal & Environmental Impact lasting Bio accumulative toxins Persistent Bio accumulative toxins (PBTs) PBTs are particularly dangerous because they do not degrade over long periods of time, and can easily bedspread and move between air, water, and soil, resulting in the accumulation of toxins far from the original channelise source of pollution. Because PBTs accumulate in fatty issue of human and animals, the toxins are gradually concentrated and are of great risk. Cell phone batteries reversible batteries are rapidly changing as technological advances improve new power sources. Already 60% of rechargeable Batteries sold worldwide are used in cell phones. However, rechargeable currently have venomous constituents such a s cadmium, as well as brominated flame-retardants. The total environmental impact from cell phone batteries depends on a batteries material man as well as on the time cell phones are used before they are discarded. Therefore, many cell phone users knock back their batteries at least once before retiring their phones unfoldLead is a highly poisonous metal affecting almost any organ and system in the eubstance. It has been widely used in electronics as the primary method of attaching components to the printed wiring boards. Lead is a toxin to both humans and the environment. It is a common contaminant and can impact entire ecosystems. In humans, it affects the central nervous system, immune and vascular systems, kidneys, and the endocrine system, with serious do on the development of childrens brains. Lead is also a doable carcinogen. It accumulates in the environment and has very high chronic and acute effects on microorganisms, plants, and animals. 4. SocietyIn past few yea rs, the boom in the usage of mobile phones has tremendously increased, a large percentage of which are children. With the advancement of technology with faster data rate and streaming videos, the early days has been given unlimited access to any contents on web. Restrictions should be established to prohibit children from accessing adult content. Also, mobile phones have been restricted to be used during driving as it has been one of the factors of road accidents.4. COMPANY comparison APLLE vs. NOKIAHow do these companies deal with environmental impacts? This part of the paper compared two companies in the cellular industry, Apple and Nokia, and how these firms deal with environmental impacts. Although Apple is not solo a mobile devices producer, its only mobile phone, the iPhone, is very popular and widely sold. Nokia is a well known mobile devices producer, which was dominating the industry for a very long time. However, in past couple years they have faced tremendous difficult ies catching up with the technological changes, and did not produce a yen phone in time. Despite their rapid losses in revenues, they still operate in this market, and one of their latest smart phones, the LUMIA 800, is very similar to the iPhone 4S. Both phones have similar hardware preferences and are comprised of similar materials. Now lets take a boldness at which caller-out is better off when it comes to sustainable business. Apple iPhone 4SApple generally says that their products are brominated flame retardant free, PVC free, mercury free, and that the glass they use is arsenic free. All of these factors conclude in a official result for Apple. Also, the iPhone releases a minimum of CO2 -gases. In fact, it releases only 1.2g of CO2-gases per hour, whereas a light bulb produces 48.4g per hour. This performance is due to the direct screen, as LED produces the least CO2 of all light sources. Furthermore, Apple has reduced the coat of their packages of iPhones by 42%, w hich not only rapidly reduces the amount of materials necessary, but they can also ship 80% more boxes in each airline shipping container. That saves one 747 flight for every 371,250 units they ship. If you count in the amounts of fuel that is saved and add every aspect of this change together, it is light that Apples Environmental Management is doing incredibly well. Their upstanding portfolio regarding environment is a perfect marketing strategy.They claim that all of their products are fully recyclable. This also includes the power conservation, which in this case is a Lithium-Ion battery. This battery is in effect(p) and long lasting, which eliminated the necessity to replace the battery often. Despite this, there is no way the battery can be removed from the phone without unscrewing the body of the phone, for which you need ultra thin screw drivers. Therefore, nobody can actually recycle these batteries themselves, unless they return it to Apple or give their phones to a rec ycling company. Despite all of these positive factors, Apple still operates this business using very irrational sales policies. They replace their products with twice as arduous hardware every year and adapt the software to the new hardware, which makes the old products very slow and ultimately unable to use. This forces the customers to always buy the newest models, which at long last produces a lot of waste. Nokia LUMIA 800Although Nokia now has very strong environmental reporting, this whole process started only after the crisis the company went through. Despite this, the LUMIA 800 proves to be a very sustainable product. In Nokias reports, it is stated that the phone is BFR-free and PVC-free. The company also states that this phone produces 16kg of CO2 emissions per constant 3 years of usage. evenly divided this yields 0.6g per hour of use, however this is not very reliable because it depends on the way these emissions are measured. When it comes to packaging, Nokia still use s the big boxes. After almost 15 years, they still use the same size of the boxes loaded with papers which contribute to a large amount of material waste. All in all, both companies provide very detailed information about their business ethics, and both rank positively. Apple as well as Nokia lay a great emphasis on improving the environmental aspects of their products and processes in each phase of the product life cycle, from raw material acquisition till the end of the products useful life. Both companies state to have reduced their carbon footprint, while introducing new features and constantly improving their products. To conclude, it cannot be said which company performs better as each of them has its advantages and disadvantages.Taking all the above mentioned points into consideration, this paper aims to highlight the ethical issues of mobile phones. When buying a cell phone, most consumers do not even think about what impacts their choice can have on the environment the same applies to the disposal after the end of life. There are estimated 5 billion cell phone users which should be made more aware of the potential hazards of mobiles. They can cause environmental and health issues, causing CO2-emissions which increase the carbon footprint. Therefore, in conclusion, the choice which cell phone to buy should not only be based on cost and technical factors but also include environmental aspects.