Ethical Consumption of Cell Phones Essay Example for Free

Ethical Consumption of Cell Ph matchlesss Essay1. world In just 30 age, mobile telephony has grown into a major global industry, with an estimated 5 one million million million use uprs around the world, comp ared with a total world population of around 7 billion people. season new subscriber growth has slowed somewhat in recent years, product turnoer remains high up, with over 1 billion new mobile bring forwards shipped in 2009 alone. This paper firstly examines the life cycle of a carrell phone, describing its stages from the extraction of the textiles to its disposal or re-usage possibilities. It in like manner discussed the ethical starts that impingement the environment and society. Lastly, two jail jail cubicle phone manufactures (orchard apple tree and Nokia) are being compared in terms of how they deal with environmental impacts.2. LIFE CYCLE OF A CELL PHONEStage One Extraction of Materials Mobile phones generally comprise approximately 40% metals and 40% plastics, with the remainder made up of glass, ceramic and other mis kioskaneous real(a)s. The diverges of a cell phone include the travel board, the liquid crystal display (LCD) and the reversible battery. The racing circuit board, which underwrites all of the phones functions, consists of copper, gold, silver, lead, nickel, tin, coltan, and zinc. The LCD, which is a flat-panel display 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 of these materials are so called persistent toxins that remain in the environment for a long period of time, even after disposal. Furthermore, an important life cycle reflexion is the susceptibility required to extract metals from their respective ores. From an energy perspective, precious metals gold and silver and exceed the impact of copper. In fitition, the energy content of glass also has a signifi tummyt energy footprint, due to the high melt temperatures that are required during manufacturing.Stage Two Materials Processing Raw materials that go into making cell phones must first be processed before manufacturers chiffonier use them. For example, to make the plastic casing, naked as a jaybird oil inevitably to be combined with natural gas and chemicals. The copper utilize to make the circuit board and batteries has to be mined from the ground, heated and treated with chemicals and electricity before it eject be organize into wires and sheets. Stage Three ManufacturingThe individual parts of a cell phone separately go by means of and through a manufacturing process. The circuit board is shaped using plastics and fibreglass and thus coated with gold plating. The circuits and wires of the circuit board are soldered, glued and coated. The LCD is made with liquid crystals layered among glass or plastic. These layers include two polarized panels, with a liquid crystal solution between them. Light is projected through the layer of liquid crystals and is colorized, which produces the visible image. Batteries flip two electrodes (both made from a different metal) and each electrode is affected by a liquid material called electrolytes. When an outlet or a nonher outside electrical spring is applied, a chemical reaction between the electrodes and the electrolytes causes an electric current to flow and powers the battery. Stage Four result and TransportationThe transportation process and packaging of cell phones is seen as harmful to the environment. Transporting cell phones for distribution requires the use of fossil fuels for energy, which bed contribute to global climate change. While packaging protects products from damage, identifies confine, and provides information, excessive or enhancive packaging contributes to the waste that we produce. Packaging consumes valuable natural resources, such as paper (from trees), plastic (from ru de(a) oil in the earth), aluminium (from ore), or other materials, all of which use energy to produce and can result in waste. Some packaging, however, can be made from recycled materials. Stage Five Useful livingYou can extend the use of your cell phone by taking good care of it as in protecting it from damage by storing it in a case, avoiding dropping it, and keeping it out of essential heat and cold 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, accept working cell phones and offer them to schools, community organizations, and individuals in need. Reuse gives people, who could not otherwise afford them, free or bring down cost access to new phones and this also extends the multipurpose lifetime of a phone.Recy cle Nowadays, many stores, manufacturers, and recycling centres accept cell phones for recycling. Some cell phones can be vexed 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, about 40% of cell phones toss 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 fill some natural resources and it is called above ground mining. Still, many cell phones are simply thrown 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 valuabl e resources.This figure shows the cell phone recycling rate from 2007 to 2010 in the United Stated. Even though sales were the highest in 2010, the recycling rate did not correspond to the sales.3. good ISSUES 1. Energy Conservation The quantity of mobile phone usage increases any environmental impact of this product. Life-cycle compend 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 ecumenic subscribers would unplug their chargers once their phone is fully charged, the energy saved could to supply 60,000 European homes for one year. Issues standardised 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 c oltan, mines there are children that oblige to work instead of going to school and many reputable companies buy this mineral. Companies have to resort to material provided by controversial circumstances. What is Coltan?Coltan, short for columbite-tantalite is a bronze 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. Tantalum 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 unique p roperties for storing electrical charge. Mining ColtanIn the Coltan is mined by hit 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. Most of these miners are children which are subjected to organic conditions. Therefore, a wareness has to be brought to these terrible working 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 selling 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 resale in Belgium. A report to the United Nations Security Council has called for a moratorium on grease ones palms 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 go off disposal Environmental ImpactPersistent Bio accumulative toxins Persistent Bio accumulative toxins (PBTs) PBTs are particularly stark because they do not degrade over long periods of time, and can easily spread and move between air, water, and soil, resulting in the accumulation of toxins far from the original point source of pollution. Because PBTs accumulate in fatty issue of humans and animals, the toxins are gradually concentrated and are of great risk. Cell phone batteriesRechargeable 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 nephrotoxic constituents such as cadmium, as well as brominated flame-retardants. The total environmental impact from cell phone batteries depends on a batteries material composition as well as on the time cell phones are used before they are discarded. Therefore, many cell phone users replace their batteries at to the lowest degree once before retiring their phones LeadLead is a highly poisonous metal change almost ein truth organ and system in the body. It has been widely used in electronics as the uncreated 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 personal effects on the development of childrens brains. Lead is also a possible carcinogen. It accumulates in the environment and has very high chronic and acute effects on microorganisms, plants, and animals. 4. SocietyIn past few years, the peg in the usage of mobile phones has tremendously increased, a large percentage of which are children. With the advancement of engine room with faster data rate and streaming videos, the youth 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 tout ensemble a mobile devices producer, its further mobile phone, the iPhone, is very popular and widely sold. Nokia is a well know mobile devices producer, which was dominating the industry for a very long time. However, in past couple y ears they have faced tremendous difficulties catching up with the technological changes, and did not produce a vivid 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 alike(p) to the iPhone 4S. Both phones have similar hardware preferences and are comprised of similar materials. Now lets take a look at which companion is better off when it comes to sustainable task. Apple iPhone 4SApple generally says that their products are brominated flame retardant free, PVC free, mercury free, and that the glass they use is atomic number 33 free. All of these factors conclude in a positive 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 LED screen, as LED produces the to the lowest degree CO2 of all light sources. Furthermore, Apple has reduced the size of their packages of iPhones by 42%, which not only rapidly reduces the tally 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 clear that Apples Environmental Management is doing incredibly well. Their whole 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 efficient 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 contract screw drivers. Therefore, nobody can actually recycle these batteries themselves, unless they return it to Apple or give their phones to a recycling company. Despite all of these positive factors, Apple still operates this business using very wild sales policies. They replace their products with twice as strong hardware every year and adapt the computer 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 eventually 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. Equally divided this yields 0.6g per hour of use, however this is not very reliable because it depends on the way these emissions are meas ured. When it comes to packaging, Nokia still uses 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.