Discarded electronics make up 70% of all toxic waste in landfills
Much has been said recently of the undesirable byproducts of the materials going into modern electronics – slave labor, pollution, depletion of rare earth minerals – but another factor to consider is the waste these devices generate when they are discarded.
Solution: Have manufacturers create better recycling programs
Apple claims to have created a sophisticated machine that can quickly disassemble an iPhone, enabling Apple to reuse more of the materials in the phone – thus reducing how much of the phone ends up in the landfill, while also allowing Apple to reuse some of the valuable minerals that go into the phone.
“True innovation means considering what happens to a product at every stage of its life cycle. Liam disassembles your iPhone when it’s no longer functioning, so the materials inside can live on. Because in a world of limited resources, some things can’t be replaced.”
Limitations
- New recycling technology is expensive at first. Can it scale?
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