Principal at DLR Group

Have you ever stopped and wondered about the objects around you? What things have you purchased or acquired that are either part of your daily life or sit on a shelf and collect dust? In particular, have you ever wondered about the journey all those electronic devices and machines we interact with on a personal and professional level took to become what they are and what will happen to them long after we have moved on to the next device? Take a laptop for example. What would you want to know about that laptop? What can you learn about yourself, your culture, or globalization in general from a single device? How does that laptop's social, technical, professional, and personal life intersect with the lives of the people involved in each stage of its production, distribution, consumption, and ultimate destruction? I invite you to consider the following questions:

● What makes a laptop? Where do the raw materials for the components come from?

● Who extracted the raw materials from the ground to make the components? What do you imagine their life was like?

● Who processes these materials into products that can be used to make the components? What must their lives be like?

● What about those who make the components or assemble the laptop into the final product? Are their lives different from the others?

● What is the impact on the communities where these things happen? Do these people use laptops? How much do they earn? How much has their part of the process changed their lives? Has it affected people in their community differently based on age, gender, or class?

● How do these materials make it into your laptop across towns, cities, or borders? What is the transactional process for buying or selling these materials? How are they transported?

● What is the impact on the communities where these items are consumed? Is it different for the raw materials compared to the final product? What are the health impacts on the workers or the community? How much are they paid, and what are their working conditions? How does that relate to what you paid for your laptop?

● What are the environmental impacts of each step in the process?

● What are the real social costs of producing one laptop regarding labor, water, power systems, sewage treatment, pollution, healthcare, disposal, roads to transport, etc.? Who pays for that?

● What is the environmental impact of that single laptop? How about thousands? What does it take to extract, process, transport, pack, consume, and dispose of it? What is the impact on the environment of each stage?

● Where does the laptop end up—a closet, a landfill, recycled, repurposed, or the ocean when it is no longer useful?

● Who is managing the recycling of the laptop? Who is doing the work, and under what conditions?

● How has global geopolitical instability affected the process?

● How is climate change affecting the process?

You could explore many other questions around your laptop or other technology you interact with daily. By analytically considering these things, better choices can be made about what technology we choose and how we approach what we do with it throughout its life cycle.

  ​The E-waste problem is estimated to have a value of $62 billion and a growing opportunity to reclaim and recycle these materials into new products.  

In 2015, the United Nations convened a conference of its member nations and created the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda adopted by the entire membership. The unanimous consensus to make a concerted effort to be more conscious about sustainability was undertaken, culminating in the creation of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). These seventeen goals look holistically at how we interact with our planet, the products we create, and how we manage our resources.

In alignment with the UN’s SDGs is what to do about the fastest-growing global problem: E-waste. It is estimated that over 50 million tons of e-waste are generated yearly, which is expected to grow by 40% by 2030. Many consider this an end-of-life problem, but the reality is that it permeates the entire manufacturing process chain, including the extraction of raw materials from the planet. The global impact of the contemplative scenario above regarding the laptop has both an upside as well as a dark side. For example, the extraction of raw materials degrades the environment, furthering pollution and driving economic challenges as resources get depleted and mining operations move to the next location. This impacts the work and the community financially and socially, often leading to challenging economic issues. This also further impacts developing nations by increasing geopolitical unrest, poor and unregulated working conditions, and environmental pollution that impacts the local, regional, and beyond.

The availability of raw materials for manufacturing technology is a finite one that many don’t think about because only that laptop is in front of them. We saw this example during the recent chip shortage and the halting of lithium extraction in Eastern Europe, reducing supply for the battery industry and affecting multiple industries, including technology. Additionally, the E-waste problem is estimated to have a value of $62 billion and a growing opportunity to reclaim and recycle these materials into new products. The current informal way of managing this poses health and environmental issues at an alarming rate. By considering thoughtfully how these products happen and where they end up, we, as an industry, can better manage the impact on people, profit, and the planet.

The technology industry is already recognizing that there are supply chain problems and is working on managing the issues. However, consumer demand drives many of the decisions. Few want to take on the end-of-life issue. Organizations, such as Sustainability in AV (https://saveav.org), are working to educate their industry through a global network and provide resources for end users to educate themselves on what can be done and what needs to be considered. In the meantime, take some time to stop and think about the things around you. You might surprise yourself as to how much happens in the life of that product.

BIO

Raymond Kent is an award-winning, internationally recognized technology consultant working in the architecture and engineering space who frequently works with top-tier clients across multiple sectors, advising them on many topics, including AI, IoT, sustainability, augmented and virtual reality, and more.