- The new Fairphone 5 is made from over 70% ethically sourced or recycled materials, including responsibly sourced minerals.
- The e-waste problem continues to escalate globally.
- Researchers are developing technology that could significantly extend cell phone battery life.
Buying the right gadgets can help you do your bit for the environment.
Fairphone, known for its dedication to sustainable and repairable products, as well as long-term software support, has launched its latest smartphone. Fairphone 5 is made from over 70% materials that are either fair-minded or recycled, including responsibly sourced minerals. This is part of the growing emphasis on environmentally friendly personal electronics.
"Recycling rare earth minerals is very important because they are in very short supply outside of China," Captjur CEO and technology analyst Bob Bilbruck told Lifewire in an email interview. "About 90 percent of rare earth minerals are in very short supply outside of China." The materials are mined and refined within China.”
Fairphone 5 uses ethically sourced materials such as gold, lithium and tungsten from well-managed mines, as well as recycled elements such as aluminium, tin, rare earths, nickel, zinc, copper, magnesium, indium and plastics in its supply chain.
The new Fairphone also aims to reduce electronic waste. Each Fairphone 5 weighs 212 grams, and the company claims it responsibly collects and recycles an equal amount of e-waste for every unit produced. Presumably, a large portion of this waste comes from countries where e-waste recycling infrastructure is not yet in place. As such, the Fairphone 5 won't add to the growing global e-waste problem.
E-waste is a growing problem worldwide. According to the International Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Forum, 5.3 billion mobile phones were discarded last year.
Magdalena Charytanowicz of WEEE Forum The weight of small electrical and electronic devices such as mobile phones, electric toothbrushes, toasters and cameras produced globally is expected to reach 24.5 million tonnes in 2022, four times the weight of the Great Pyramid of Giza. The organization's website.
"These devices provide many important resources that can be used to produce new electronics or other devices, such as wind turbines, electric vehicle batteries or solar panels, all of which are critical for the green digital transition to a low-carbon society," she Add to.
Researchers are working hard to find new ways to recycle technology components and reduce waste and environmental damage. Engineers at Australia's RMIT University are working on an innovation that could extend the life of mobile phone batteries up to three times longer than current technology allows.
The team suggests that using high-frequency sound waves to eliminate rust, which affects battery efficiency, could create recyclable batteries with a lifespan of up to nine years, instead of the typical two to three years. The huge expense of recovering materials such as lithium from batteries often prevents their reuse. However, scientists are collaborating to develop MXene, a nanomaterial they believe could serve as a powerful alternative to lithium in future batteries.
"Unlike graphene, MXene is highly customizable and opens up a range of possible technological applications in the future," lead researcher Leslie Yeo said in a press release.
One day, gadgets may even be fully recycled through the use of printers. Engineers at Duke University claim to have created the world's first fully recyclable printed electronics, using water instead of chemicals in the manufacturing process. Researchers say the innovation sidesteps the need for harmful chemicals.
These devices provide many important resources that can be used to produce new electronic devices.
A key hurdle for electronics manufacturers is efficiently layering multiple components together, an important step in creating complex devices. Achieving this cohesion is particularly challenging when dealing with printed electronics.
"If you're making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, it's easy to spread it on any piece of bread," Aaron Franklin, who led the study, explained in a press release.
In their research paper, Franklin and his team describe a repetitive process that involves rinsing the device with water, drying it at the appropriate temperature, and then printing it again. By reducing the amount of surfactant in the ink, the researchers demonstrated that their ink formulation and method can produce transistors that are fully functional, fully recyclable, and entirely water-based.
"The performance of our thin film transistors is not comparable to the best thin film transistors currently manufactured, but they are competitive enough to show the research community that we should all be doing more to make these processes more environmentally friendly," Franklin said.