Apple Shrunk the iPhone’s Carbon Footprint. There’s a Way to Shrink It Even Further
www.bloomberg.com
Ensuring users can hang onto their phones as long as possible would help reduce the biggest source of emissions: producing phones in the first place.

Apple Shrunk the iPhone’s Carbon Footprint. There’s a Way to Shrink It Even Further | Ensuring users can hang onto their phones as long as possible would help reduce the biggest source of emissions…::Ensuring users can hang onto their phones as long as possible would help reduce the biggest source of emissions: producing phones in the first place.

  • PxtlEnglish
    42·
    8 months ago

    I’ve already discussed my Software Laws policy, but for the hardware side:

    Simple and nasty law. Make a symbol. An ugly symbol, like the ♻️, or the UL symbol. That symbol says "this device contains a battery that contains toxic chemicals and must be disposed of properly. Make it clear: the symbol must be externally visible on the back of your beautiful iphone. Big 2-inch mess bigger than the corporate logo.

    But you can make it easily removable! Just let the user pop it right off! They learned that the device contains an e-waste battery, and now they know.

    But the trick: It shall be illegal to make the symbol easier to remove than safely removing the battery. Does removing the battery require a heatgun and pry-tools? Then so does the e-waste symbol. Does the battery require a screw-driver? Then so does the e-waste symbol.

    Implementation can be trivial, if the back-panel has both the e-waste symbol and provides access to the battery. Then replacing the back solves both problems! Or taking off the flat part of the back and flipping it over, hiding the e-waste symbol.