iPhone
it's effect on our environment
Raw materials that make up an iPhone
- glass
- silica and sand
- stainless steel
- battery (aluminum, copper, gold, lead, iron ore, sand, gravel, zinc, stone)
- copper
- silver
- platinum
- Lanthanides
- Scandium
- Yttrium
How an iPhone is made
- 90% of the rare earth minerals used to construct the iPhone are mined in China
- most iPhones are made in factories in China using the assembly line technique
How the iPhone is used and for how long
- the iPhone is used as a phone, computer, personal assistant, best friend, and many more things
- iPhone's are built to last 4 years, but depending how tech savvy you are, you may get a new one every year
What happens next?
- Once an iPhone is no longer needed, multiple things could happen: the owner can trade it in for an upgrade, they can sell it to a plant that will recycle it, or they can just keep it sitting around their house
- most of the time, iPhone's are sent to 3rd world countries in order to be recycled and broken down, where their aren't many regulations or environmental safeguards
- there are lots of toxic chemicals in iPhone's from hazardous flame retardants, PVC and bromine to heavy metals like lead, tin and chromium - and even mercury and cadmium
- because they aren't usually broken down correctly, they end up in streams and soil, and pollute the environment
- Guiyu, a village in China, is one of the worst cities polluted by this type of toxic waste due to smartphones not being disposed of properly
How can it be reused of repurposed?
- Apple is one of the best companies about setting up programs to recycle unused iPhone's
- the issue isn't about iPhone's being recycled, it's more about how they are being recycled
- Apple needs to educate the places they send their old iPhone's in order to not create such a large footprint of toxic waste
- iPhone's can be broken down in order to make newer versions of the iPhone or other Apple product
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
Reducing, reusing and recycling are imperative in order to preserve the earth's biodiversity. By doing all of them, we eliminate the amount of resources we must take from the earth, including renewable and nonrenewable resources.