skc

Electric cars may be more detrimental to our environment

Problems

Electronics are made of rare earth materials, derived from destroyed swath of habitats over time (ref. 1). The material is sought by ever-hungry producers of electronics such as personal computers, phones, and currently electric cars.

Electronic devices do not last, and they get discarded within 2 years (ref. 1). This is at no fault of consumers, because apps and functions are added in every product cycle, e.g., new apps, security patches/upgrades, energey-efficiency/capacitor, or features (NFC, Bluetooth, data connectivity, protocols, etc.). If consumers were not subjected to such changes over time, we wouldn’t have to discard our devices (and expend money). It is apt to describe such design as “designed to fail“, according to Prof Seeram Ramakrishna (ref. 1). Another term is rapid obsolescence.

Electronic designers and manufacturers made it difficult for OEM to copy their design, thus designers/manufacturers would change their designs and components as so often, making excess components useless and repair cost high. This practice is attributing to high rate of electronic disposals. Such irresponsible act by desighers/manufacturers must be addressed by the consumer and government.

New entrants in the form of electric cars (or electric vehicle, EV) further contribute to the problem. The toxic waste that the EV industry generates will be unimaginable when the product reach its end-of-life. Who will be responsible to recycle and reclaim these toxic materials? Will we have worst waste lands as compared to those contributed by electronic devices?

China is leading in the number of EV produced and previous report of abandoned EVs is a cause of concern (ref. 3). US and EU had promoted the adoption EV, but had the nations planned any framework or standards to ensure that the spent parts, e.g., lithium-batteries, eletronic modules, and the obsolete EV cars, are properly recycled (ref. 4)?

Toxic materials

e-Waste contains complex toxic materials, e.g., heavy metal (lead, cadmium, nickel, etc.), mercury, organic materials (e.g., polyhalogenated aliphatic and aromatic chemicals). Untreated e-waste will permit these chemicals to seep into our water reservoir to contaminate our water and food supply.

Lithium-batteries contain toxic materials and are dangerous to handle, thus making recycling effort risky if not done correctly (ref. 4). If we have no standard for lithium-battery, the diverse designs will hamper recycling effort where economic of scale important consideration. We must not end up with silo mentality when it comes to recycling. There should not be any entry barrier for battery recyclers.

Solutions

Singapore adopted e-waste management system in 2021 to measure the amount of electronic waste generated yearly, and track amount recycled, i.e., merely 6% yearly (ref. 1).

India and EU had compelled producers to adopt the USB-C standard (ref. 2), thus compelling Apple to change its connection to that. The effort will allow reuse of cables for electronic devices and reduce waste.

Singapore will compell manufacturers of household appliances to collect 60% (in weight) of their end-of-life products for recycling. Smaller electronic products (e.g., ICT equipment such as personal computers and devices) must be 20% collected. This was communicated by Singapore Ministry of Environment and Water Resources (MEWR)

EV manufacturers are taking the initiatives to recycle their lithium batteries. EU compels manufacturers to recycle their products (ref. 4). This has led car makers Nissan, Volkswagen, and Renault (ref. 4).

Organizations espousing circular economy

Reference

  1. A toxic trash pile grows when gadgets become waste — in a year or less, 3 Sep 2019 (https://www.dbs.com/livemore/tech/trash-talk-a-toxic-trash-pile-grows-when-gadgets-become-waste-in-a-year-or-less.html)
  2. India to adopt USB Type C as the default charger like EU: Report, 15 Aug 2022 (https://www.techradar.com/news/india-to-adopt-usb-type-c-as-the-default-charger-like-eu-report)
  3. Electric Car Graveyard: Thousands Of EVs Left Deserted By Chinese Car Sharing And Rental Firm, 26 Mar 2019 (https://www.indiatimes.com/auto/electric/china-electric-car-graveyard-how-thousands-of-evs-are-left-deserted-by-car-sharing-rental-firms-364315.html)
  4. Electric cars: What will happen to all the dead batteries? 27 Apr 2022 (https://www.bbc.com/news/business-56574779)

Leave a comment