Keeping a Green Apple

KEEPING A GREEN APPLE Recycling iPhone E-Wastes the Practical Way It may be the largest and most popular smartphone in the market to date but that doesn't exempt the has hon one amaine atertR ater the net wye been spodalenn iPhone from its environ- Gand mourtain bing Checko his shot of Alen ard metheoo of Dam mental responsibilities. Wsh you were here wthus Greenpeace has rattled Apple about their less than stellar attempts at making the iPhone a greener device since 2007. Five years after this, did Apple manage to make itself greener, or is the iPhone still e-waste-worthy? WHAT E-WASTES DO PEOPLE THROW AWAY? E-WASTE is an informal name that refers to all wastes from eleetronic equipment of all sizes and types that contains dangerous chemicals like lead, cadminm, mercury, bromine and beryllium. Television 20 Million/year Computers 40.1 Million/year Phones 100 Million/year The UN Environment Program says that the total weight of e-wastes all over the world could be 50,000,000 tons/year. WHAT HAZARDOUS CHEMICALS DO THESE PHONES BRING TO OUR ENVIRONMENT AND BODY? Lead Found in: Solderings Beryllium Effect: Damage to the nervous system, damage to the kidney, retardation and seizures Found in: Battery contacts and electrical connectors Effect: Poisoning, lung cancer Arsenic Mercury Found in: Semiconductors and ICs Found in: Cellphone's monitors Effect: Poisoning, memory loss and sensory problems Effect: Poisoning, heart disease, cancer and stroke THE IPHONE THROUGH THE YEARS Because of the environmental risks the iPhone original had posted, Apple put up sustainability reports for their products to show people just how much they've been working on reducing their carbon emissions and making their products greener. iPhone 3G 55 kg of CO,. 45% 49% 5% 1% Production Customer Transportation Recycling Use iPhone 3GS 45% 49% 5% 1% 55 kg of CO, Production Customer Transportation Recycling Use iPhone 4 26% 65% Production 7% 2% 55 kg of CO,. Customer Transportation Recycling Use iPhone 45 69% 23% 6% 2% 70 kg of CO,, Production Customer Transportation Recycling Use The iPhone was also re-designed to be free from harmful chemicals like arsenic, mercury, bromine fire retardants and PVC. These transformations led to a rise and stabilized rankings for Apple in the GREENPEACE GUIDE TO GREENER ELECTRONICS 2.710 4.3n0 4.7no 5.1n0 4.6/10 April 2007 November March January 2010 November 2008 2009 2011 HERE ARE A FEW STEPS YOU CAN DO TO BE A GREEN APPLE USER 1. NEVER EVER THROW AWAY YOUR IPHONE! Throwing your iPhone away like an old rag isn't the smartest way to deal with a useless piece of technology. Did you know that the 65 tons of toxic wastes from mobile phones in the landfills would amount to 3 oil tankers! 2. CHARGE LESS FREQUENTLY. Make sure that you get to maximize and exhaust your iPhone's battery so that you can conserve energy when charging your iPhone. Did you know that you can power a light bulb for 357 years if you use the energy from all the iPhone sold in 2010? And we're not even talking about the iPhone 4S sales! 3. IF YOUR OLD IPHONE'S SCREEN IS BROKEN, DON'T THROW IT AWAY. Of all the iPhone parts, the LCD screen is probably the costliest to repair and the hardest to deal with. But you should never throw away those screen parts nor the iPhone per se. Did you know that in Lianjian, Taiwan, 49 people were poisoned while assembling those touchscreens? That's how bad it is for human beings! 4. GET AN IPHONE UPGRADE The biggest portion of the iPhone's Greenhouse gas emissions comes from customer use, especially if you own an iPhone original, 3G and 3GS. These iPhones have 22% more emissions than the newer 10:23 models so it would be best to upgrade to a newer iPhone after a year or two! 5. SELL AND RECYCLE YOUR IPHONE! Of all the discarded iPhones in the world, did you know that only 10% of these are recycled well? You don't have to sweat the recycling process. If you don't want your iPhone anymore, simply sell your iPhone to refurbishment companies like Cash for iPhones so that you can recycle and reuse your iPhone while earning! cashfor iphones Get Cash Fast! References: • http://www.treehugger.com/clean-technology/how-green-is-the- iphone-infographic-explains.html • http://www.moneycrashers.com/electronic-e-waste-recycling- disposal-facts/ • http://www.ewastecenter.com/e-waste-facts/ • http://images.apple.com/environment/reports/docs/iPhone-3G- Environmental-Report.pdf • http://images.apple.com/environment/reports/docs/iPhone_3GS- Environmental-Report.pdf • http://images.apple.com/environment/reports/docs/iPhone4_Product_E nvironmental_Report_2011.pdf • http://images.apple.com/environment/reports/docs/iPhone4S_Product_E nvironmental_Report_2011.pdf II