The UK’s Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) has repeated its warning that consumers, government and electronics manufacturers must act now to prevent further environmental destruction and future shortages of vital technology.
The end of rare metal reserves and decades of needless waste by consumers and manufacturers have caused a perfect storm in electronic supply lines. The result has been terminal shortages in rare metals, fluctuating prices and environmental destruction.
But it’s a threat that could be offset by more affirmative action.
The RSC’s latest campaign hopes to highlight the importance of consumers, legislators and manufacturers working together to solve the crisis.
Professor Tom Welton, president of the Royal Society of Chemistry says:
“Our tech consumption habits remain highly unsustainable and have left us at risk of exhausting the raw elements we need.“It is essential that governments and businesses urgently do more to develop a circular economy which can tackle the world’s growing e-waste crisis and alleviate the strain on supply chains.”
The RSC’s latest research concludes that consumers around the world now understand the challenges but are all too often frustrated in their desire to help:
This report comes following the publication of a UK parliamentary report in 2020 that included evidence from the Royal Society. The Environmental Audit Committee report into e-waste identified key areas of action required to avert major shortages and further environmental destruction.
Their report contained some conclusions which were critical of the practices of the tech giants who, they found, relied on built-in obsolescence and disposabilty culture to keep selling more ‘stuff’.
It also said that governments weren’t doing enough to raise consumer awareness around these critical issues and help the public recycle what they could.
The parliamentary report urged the government:
And pushed for long term cross-industry solutions:
For years, some in the electronics industry have been arguing that while the manufacturing sector had to take more responsibility for e-waste, consumers had to play their part, too. Disposability was driven by customer expectations of continual renewal and, most critically, by the demand for low prices.
But some consumers have been frustrated for years over memory chips that can’t be easily upgraded, the difficulty of replacing components, their inability to change dying batteries, and a hundred other issues that were forcing them to change devices and appliances unnecessarily.
Now, the latest research from the Royal Society shows there is mainstream public awareness around the importance of e-waste recycling and it’s surely time to act. The evidence points to a new understanding that different models of mend and reuse could be the way to prevent eco-disaster and serious shortages of vital electronic products in the future.
To make this a reality, in the future we need to see manufacturers:
There are opportunities for recurring revenue and to engineer better value for customers by looking at servitisation models. Such models are incentivising manufacturers to build products that they can lease instead of sell. These products will be:
All of which are key to developing a more circular economy.
And what about self-mending materials to increase longevity and reduce waste? Or PCBs that are biodegradable? Components that regenerate themselves are being actively explored by aerospace and medical device developers. Meanwhile, plant-based computer chips are becoming a bleeding-edge reality.
Now is the time for manufacturers to look towards value-engineering their products so they are fit for a new age of environmental responsibility. Whole suites of products may need to be looked at through new prisms of repairability and servitisation. It’s what the planet needs and what consumers want. And it will underpin a shift to a more sustainable commercial future for many of us.