From dead ends to lifecycles

Posted 4/20/11

In recent years, electronic devices have become an increasingly large percentage of the human waste stream, a problem exacerbated by the fact that so many of the products seem to become obsolete …

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From dead ends to lifecycles

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In recent years, electronic devices have become an increasingly large percentage of the human waste stream, a problem exacerbated by the fact that so many of the products seem to become obsolete after a few months. It’s a problem not only in terms of sheer bulk—as Sullivan County in particular knows all too well, we are running out of landfill space—but because electronics contain substances that are harmful to the environment and human health.

Fortunately, as reported in the news story on page 4, electronics recycling seems to be one area in which steps are being taken to move away from the “make it, use it and throw it away” model of manufacturing that dominates the human economy, toward what might be called lifecycle manufacturing. In Pennsylvania, as well as New York, laws have been signed that require electronics manufacturers to file plans with the state to facilitate end-user disposal of the equipment they produce, and to collect and transport electronic devices equal to their share of the market to recycling facilities.

The idea that manufacturers should take responsibility for the manner in which the things they make are thrown away seems to us to be an absolutely essential step in creating a sustainable manufacturing system. If companies know they will have to handle—and pay for—product disposal, they will be highly motivated to design those products with easy and cost-effective disposal in mind. And one of the best and most effective modes of disposal is to use the materials all over again (or sell them to someone who can).

Which brings us to a second problem that must be addressed in developing a sustainable manufacturing lifecycle: the extraction of raw materials. Extraction processes have environmental costs, and, in a world with a large and growing population, will eventually run up against supply limitations. In a truly sustainable economic system, all manufactured items would be made from a naturally renewable resource, like something that can be grown or from previously manufactured items that are past their useful lifespan. Today’s landfills could become tomorrow’s mines.

And just that “urban mining” is what some people are starting to think about—with electronics leading the way. Ironically, a major impetus for this development has been provided by what has been perceived as a terrible problem: last fall China announced that it will be curtailing its exports of rare earths, substances essential to the manufacture of high-tech items from cell phones and iPads to car batteries, MRIs, fluorescent lights and wind turbines.

China is currently the source of 95% of all the rare earths used on the planet. The reason is that the mining and refining of rare earths is incredibly toxic—it leaves behind tons of radioactive waste—and more than any other nation in the world, China is willing to treat its population and its environment as economic cannon fodder. But now it’s pulling back from rare earth exports, and since that announcement, rare earth prices have soared, bringing both the opportunities and the challenges they pose to the forefront of world attention.

In reaction, some countries, like Malaysia, are taking the obvious route of trying to establish rare earth operations within their own borders. But given past experience, this solution is far from ideal. The remains of Malaysia’s last, ill-fated, rare earth refinery now constitute one of Asia’s largest radioactive cleanup sites.

Others are taking a more creative approach.

If you want rare earths, one place to start to find it, which is a lot less damaging than a new open pit and refinery, is with those mountains of cell phones, iPads and the like that consumers have tossed aside. A number of companies, like Waste Management and Electronic Recyclers International, are doing just that, and electronic manufacturers are partnering with them. Hitachi has developed a machine that extracts rare earth magnets many times faster than manual labor—and without exposing that labor to the risk of chronic disease. The process of “urban mining” is still in its infancy, but to us it is a perfect example of technological innovation that creates something smarter, not just something more.

In a truly sustainable economy, before anybody started manufacturing anything, they would know exactly where the materials come from, exactly where they are going, and be able to certify that, at both ends, the object in question ties into a natural cycle (like growth or decomposition), or a manufacturing cycle, or both. That way, dead ends like dumps, islands of junk floating in the ocean and the moonscapes left by open-pit mining could become a thing of the past. The latest electronics recycling laws and the concept of “urban mining” for rare earths are a couple of promising steps in that direction.

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