SUSTAINABILITY
“ The second life of a smartphone should be as a smartphone – wiped clean of its data , repurposed for a second user ”
NATHAN WRENCH HEAD OF SUSTAINABLE INNOVATION , CAMBRIDGE CONSULTANTS
Going Circular If , as Wrench explains , “ treating an end of life smartphone as ‘ ore ’ – grinding it up to powder and then attempting to extract minerals – is a massive destruction of value , and nothing more ” then the answer to the e-waste crisis would appear to be a business case , rather than a more efficient ore-extraction technology .
“ The maximum recoverable value from used smartphones needs to come from value derived from business models that look more like consumer goods and less like raw material commodity production ,” Wrench continues . The answer , he says , “ lies in the re-spinning of that original US $ 1000 product , of generating value from its sale and resale several times on its gradual progression down the slope back towards its US $ 1 raw material cost .”
The second life of a smartphone , Wrench contends , “ should be as a smartphone – wiped clean of its data , repurposed for a second user .” After that , the next easiest way to extract more value from a smartphone is by remanufacturing it , replacing one or more degraded components but keeping the overall device intact . It ’ s worth noting that this approach becomes a lot easier ( and can even be ingrained at the consumer level ) by embracing greater modularity in the way devices are built . Several startups , like Fairphone in the Netherlands , are already pushing the boundaries of the modular smartphone as a way to prolong end of life , but the practice has yet to enter the mainstream , where two years still remains a good run and upgrade cycles are still ruthlessly pushed at the expense of support for older models .
“ Thirdly – the exquisite complexity that can turn cents-worth of silicon and copper into dollars-worth of functioning modules – cameras , displays , comms modules – should be reused as modules in secondlife electronics goods ,” adds Wrench . “ These might be home security products , appliances or toys – or in applications where the business case might be marginal with brand new first-generation components .”
mobile-magazine . com 159