GreenYour.com

In 2006, 17.7 million personal digital assistants (PDAs) and smartphones were sold, up from 14.9 million in 2005.[1][2] And in 2007, there were nearly 3 billion mobile phone subscribers around the globe, according to research by Wireless Intelligence.[3]

Mobile devices can have a positive effect on the environment. A study conducted by the University of California, Berkeley revealed that receiving your news wirelessly on your PDA instead of having a printed subscription delivered to your mailbox requires up to 140 times less carbon dioxide and the consumption of between 26 to 67 times less water.[4] This same study reports that if 25 percent of newspaper readers in the US switched to reading their news on a PDA, they'd cut their news reading CO₂ emissions by 97 percent and eliminate the need for 14 million print newspapers.

Yet, despite these advantages for on-the-go living, mobile devices come with some not-to-small environmental concerns. Creating cell phones and other mobile devices requires relatively significant inputs of raw materials and energy, running them uses up loads of electricity, and at the end of their short lives, they can contribute to the poisoning of soil and water around the globe.

Constructing mobile devices

To create a cell phone, smartphone, or PDA, several pounds of raw materials are used. In fact, one cell phone requires about 4.5 pounds of raw materials, including petroleum-based plastics, liquid crystal display materials, brominated flame retardants (BFRs), and toxic heavy metals including cadmium, lead, nickel, mercury, manganese, lithium, zinc, arsenic, antimony, beryllium, and copper to manufacture it. If not properly recycled, these toxins seep from mobile devices into the environment, where they can accumulate in the food chain and cause damage to plants, animals, and humans.

While the environmental impact of the infrastructure for mobile phones is significantly smaller than that for land-based telephones, building and maintaining things like a cell tower, transmission lines and the power to run it all can cause destruction to natural habitats across the country.

Power consumption of mobile devices

Power consumption is another cell phone eco-concern. Only about five percent of the power consumed by phone chargers is used to charge phones; 95 percent is consumed by the charger when no phone is plugged in.[5] If everyone in the US unplugged their charger or used a more energy-efficient or renewably-powered charger, we could save 4.5 billion kWh of electricity use, 3 million tons of carbon dioxide from power plant emissions, and $380 million in end user electricity usage per year.[6]

Trashing mobile devices

Cell phones have an average lifespan of 18 months, creating approximately 67,000 tons of annual waste in the US.[7] Today, more than 500 million cell phones populate landfills.[8] Yet, recycling a cell phone can be problematic because cell phones are not designed to be disassembled. Since 2000, less than one percent of phones have been recycled or reused.[8] The energy saved from recycling the 100 million cell phones disposed of in the US each year could provide the annual electricity for more than 194,000 households.[9]

Related health issues

When released into the environment, the chemicals that make up cell phones, PDAs, and other electronics can cause severe harm to humans and animals, as well as long term damage to the natural environment.

• cadmium: Found in chip resistors, infrared detectors, and semiconductors. Toxic and bio-accumulative, this chemical can harm kidney systems.
• lead: Used in the soldering of cell phone circuit boards, it can cause nervous system, kidney, and blood system damage. It is estimated that consumer electronics are responsible for 40 percent of the lead in landfills. From there, it can seep into our drinking water and then accumulate in the environment, affecting plants, animals, and humans.
• mercury: Found in cell phone batteries and circuit boards, can seep into waterways. This chemical travels through the food chain and can cause brain damage.
• brominated flame retardants (BFRs): Used on printed circuit boards and components like plastic covers and cables. Once released into the environment through leaching and incineration, cause increased rates of cancer in those who each mercury-contaminated food.

External links

• Charitable Recycling
• Plug-in to eCycling Program
• Rechargeable Battery Recycling Corporation
• ReCellular
• Recycle My Cell Phone
• Wireless Recycling
• Wirefly Recycling
• National Recycling Coalition's Electronic Recycling Initiative
• E-Cycling Central