Choosing A Better Smartphone For the Environment: Things to consider

My phone has been charging for hours – but the battery level fell from 7% to 4%. A trip to the repair shop didn’t help – they insisted nothing’s wrong with my phone. So I found myself researching for a smartphone 2 years after getting my “new” phone. Truth be told, I was going to buy the phone with the best specs and price, but I can’t. I have to consider the environmental impact of smartphones.

Environmental impacts of smart phones

Electronics waste is the world’s fastest-growing solid waste stream. With each batch of new smartphones announced, a fresh batch of smartphones becomes unwanted. In 2019, we recycled less than 17.4% of the 53.6 million metric tons of electronic waste we produced.

This is baffling to me since electronic waste contains precious or useful metals like gold, silver, copper, and platinum. The thought of so many resources going to waste is horrible, but it isn’t the worst part. When improperly disposed of, electronics waste is a huge polluter of the environment, leaching toxic substances into the environment.

How much of our e-wastes get illegally snuck into West Africa? There they languish and create a toxic environment, harming both humans and wildlife. Whenever there is overconsumption, problems arise. And we haven’t even talked about the effects mining for raw materials to produce our phones has on the environment.

The mining of cobalt, the mineral used to create lithium batteries, is fueling horrific human rights violations in the Democratic Republic of Congo. People are working in dangerous conditions for very little money and being treated like slaves so we have cobalt for our smartphones! Though cobalt isn’t mined solely for smartphones, they’re an essential element of cell phones.

Given the environmental impact of smartphones, we all ought to give it more thought beyond just considering specifications and cost. But it isn’t exactly easy to choose a “greener” phone. What options do we have? Which of the myriad of brands are better? Since I’m researching smartphones, I thought I would write a post on it too.

Getting a new phone: Things to think about

Love the phone you have

The most environmentally friendly option is always the one you already have at home.

Don’t get a new phone just because you want it. Buying and using things aren’t the problem, it’s using and replacing too many things too often (aka overconsumption) that’s a problem. Smartphones are constantly evolving and the specs are constantly improving. The phone we wanted so badly a year ago quickly becomes boring.

Before we switch to a “better” phone, remind yourself that what you have is good enough! Better to save that money and use it for something you really need. It may not feel that way, but denying our desire for instant gratification is good for us. Not only do we save more money, but we’re also in better control of our desires.

Of course, phone manufacturers have to shoulder a large part of the blame for building planned obsolescence into their products. Software slows down and upgrades start to drain batteries mysteriously. As consumers, we should seek out brands that take pride in providing reliable updates for the operating system and creating a durable phone. Not just the cheapest and the fastest.

Try to repair it

Yes, I know they’ve made phones difficult to repair. I’m old enough to remember a time when one can easily pry open the phone to replace the battery when it starts to lose its charge or becomes bloated. We can’t do that anymore, but there are still repair shops around.

That said, it’s not always cost-effective to repair things these days. That’s another problem with our current economic model. We’re making things that don’t last while paying some workers so little they can’t live a decent life. Yes, things are more affordable, but we end up using a ton of them because they’re cheaper and not durable. In the end, we use up resources, create waste, and in the process violate some human rights.

So I urge you to consider the environmental price tag when you find yourself thinking twice about repairing something. If nothing else, do support the right to repair movement!

Buy secondhand or refurbished

Using secondhand goods is always a more environmentally friendly approach than purchasing a brand new product. There is a huge market for secondhand phones thanks to the regularity of people upgrading their phones.

When you buy secondhand phones, there’s the added bonus of saving! So you may be able to enjoy a high-end flagship phone at the price you would pay for, say, a mid-range phone.

However, as we’ve mentioned above, phones are made with a limited lifespan. So secondhand phones may not last as long as a brand new one, and they don’t come with a warranty too. Refurbished smartphones, on the other hand, typically come with some warranty.

Many people are upgrading their phones yearly these days so secondhand phones remain to be a good eco-friendly option, especially from reputable sellers.

Choose your brand wisely

If you live in Europe, congratulations! You have the opportunity to buy the most eco-friendly smartphone on the market – the Fairphone. Fairphone boasts the most reparable phones on the market and the company believes in creating a more sustainable electronics industry. They source their materials responsibly and treat their workers fairly.

For everyone else, there are still companies that do more than others. The following information was obtained from Ethical Consumer’s comprehensive guide on Mobile Phones:

This chart paints a fairly consistent picture with Greenpeace’s Guide to Greener Electronics 2017 (admittedly a long time ago in this industry). It seems like Apple and Motorola (a subsidiary of Lenovo) are good choices if you don’t have access to Fairphone phones.

Recycle your phones properly

No matter what phones you end up buying, recycling our existing smartphones is something we all can do.

Recycling can’t solve our plastic crisis, but when it comes to phones, it’s a different story. Phones are made with highly recyclable precious metals like gold, palladium, and silver, and base metals like copper, tin, and aluminum. Even the Li-ion batteries themselves can be recycled.

Recycling phones properly allows us to reclaim materials, reducing the need to mine for virgin materials, hence reducing the energy used. it also ensures that these phones don’t end up in the landfill where they’ll leach and contaminate groundwater, the soil, and the air.

Choose a better smartphone for the environment

Individual actions can seem so insignificant, but consumers’ choices hold great power over the companies. The billions of users keep these companies’ profits growing. It is estimated that 5 billion people will be using smartphones globally by 2030. Even if only 20% of us made a better choice, it would still be 1 billion smartphones!

It’s so easy to just head out and buy the cheapest phone with the best specifications, but those of us who care enough must think deeper about the hidden repercussions. When enough of us show that we care about what our purchases do to the environment and in turn to ourselves, the companies will respond.

In summary, wear out your current phone, buy the greenest phone you can, write to the companies to demand they be responsible for the environment, and make sure you recycle your smartphones.

I hope you’ve found the post useful! If you did, remember to share it on your preferred social media to get more people to think about their smartphone choices! Thank you for reading!