Humans love portable electronics, from the Walkman in the 1980s to the disposable vapes and handheld, miniature fans of today. Over the years, as demand for these electronic gadgets has soared, they have gotten cheaper, leading to an enormous amount of waste. In the past year, 471 million small, inexpensive everyday electronics like headphones and […]
By John Marshall As the athletes take the podium and, with a slight bow, have their medals placed around their necks, they will be happy to have landed in the top three. For the people behind the Tokyo Medal Project, they’ll be happy that those Olympic medals are there in the first place. The project […]
By Doug Johnson Laptops, phones and tablets come out in new, flashier upgrades each year, and consumers lap them up, eager to own the latest desirable models with the most cutting-edge features. But with every upgrade, older models mount up in landfills around the world. In 2019, we generated a record 53.6 million metric tons […]
All those phones, computers and tablets we rely on are dependent on mined resources. Extracting and processing those resources accounts for nearly half of our greenhouse gas emissions, which is why the European Commission’s Circular Economy Action Plan calls for “initiatives for the entire life cycle of products, from design and manufacturing to consumption, repair, […]
By Tim Schauenberg Technician Christopher Olk concentrates hard as he removes the broken drive from a DVD player and pushes it back in again. “If it’s the mechanics or the electronics, I can fix it,” explains the 26-year-old, who is working on his Ph.D. in battery technology at Aachen University. “If the chip or the […]
When our smartphones, televisions or other gadgets stop working, it seems like the only choice we have is to get rid of it. This never-ending stream of electronic waste has created mountains of toxic trash that’s hazardous to people and the planet. That’s why consumers and lawmakers in the U.S. and Europe are fighting back […]
By Seokheun Choi It seems like every few months there’s a new cellphone, laptop or tablet that is so exciting people line up around the block to get their hands on it. While the perpetual introduction of new, slightly more advanced electronics has made businesses like Apple hugely successful, the short shelf life of these […]
Thailand has joined Vietnam and Malaysia in cracking down on the world’s trash. Thailand will stop accepting more than 400 types of electronic waste (e-waste), including circuit boards, old TVs and radios, within six months, an environment ministry official told Reuters. The decision was made Wednesday at a meeting chaired by Surasak Kanchanarat, the environment […]
If you ever felt like your iPhone is getting slower over time, Apple has admitted that it deliberately slows down the processing speeds of phones with older batteries to stop them shutting down without warning. The tech giant is ultimately doing a good thing—even if it’s in a sneaky, backhanded way. Smartphone batteries certainly have […]
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