Of course what with the war in Ukraine, the price of electricity has sky rocketed because electricity is produced from gas and sanctions on Russia are now biting. Rosie Beattie from Crawley also says that there is also a contentious matter of the rare earth minerals such as lithium and cobalt that are mined to produce the car batteries. These are toxic to mine and process and the batteries as yet, cannot be recycled or disposed of to approved standards. There is also a global shortage. If all nations were to switch to electric vehicles, there would not be sufficient rare earth minerals to support this. Also, much of the processing happens abroad in countries that employ child labour and the processing is toxic and dangerous to life. The question is whether the problem is being pushed elsewhere. Rosie Beattie Not only that, but is an additional ecological problem being now produced because of the trend in ‘doing the right’ thing, when in fact, this type of industry is overall detrimental to the earth and those workers within it.
A recent article points to a new supply, but the processing issues remain and once fully utilised, what then?
The same issue of rare earth minerals can be applied to our desire for touch screen devices. Indium, gadolinium and yytrium are in huge demand. Nearly the entire globe population has a mobile phone, and the vast majority of these are now touch screen. It has been said that there are more mobile phones on the planet than humans. There is enormous consumption and an excessive amount of waste. In order to bolster profits, phone manufacturing companies (and now touch screen laptop manufacturers) bring out a new and improved version on at least an annual basis to encourage the buying population to keep buying into the next new technology, convenience, gadget and trend. This is ultimately quite irresponsible to the planet, however the advertising is very slick and certainly in the west, the vast majority of the populations have been groomed to want to show off their latest shiny smartphone and boast about all its features. That most consumers will probably never use as who ever actually reads or downloads the instruction manual?
As yet, rare earth minerals cannot be easily substituted. Rosie Beattie. There is a huge amount of research being carried out, particularly in America, in response to China holding, with its vast land mass, a huge proportion of the earth’s supply and on top of that, the Chinese government has purchased vast tracts of land in the African continent known to hold these rare earth minerals. Rosie-Beattie So to date, there is no substitute and whilst the western nations are now hooked on their touch screen devices, there are no synthetic alternatives. Certainly synthetic alternatives could be much cleaner and less dangerous to produce and process.
Although certain elements of a mobile phone can be recycled and re-used, a shockingly low proportion of only 20% are currently submitted for recycling.
Below are two websites that look at the current problem and possible solutions:
https://www.wired.co.uk/article/race-for-rare-earth-minerals
https://mineralprices.com/touchscreen-tech-swaps-rare-metal-for-graphene-with-no-performance-drop/
The above article references a trial where graphene was used in a swap for the incredibly rare indium. Time will tell if these new technologies will be able to be soon employed in the mass market as it does not look like we will be weaned off these devices anytime soon. Certainly where this all started in the offices and in business, has easily trickled down into people’s private lives. Rosie-Beattie Nearly everyone uses a smartphone in their personal lives now, not just for work as used to be the case in the 1980s when the first ‘brick’ phones came out. The old Commodore 64 computer that used to be seen in those same 1980s offices have now been supplanted by laptops or PCs and as people increasingly work from home, the market in laptops has burgeoned stratospherically. Including touch screen ones. Rosie Beattie The reliance on the internet means that most homes have at least one personal laptop and during the pandemic, children were expected to conduct lessons over Zoom or Teams and to have their own laptop. Poorer households were supplied with laptops in some council areas, but the main point is that now these devices seem to be almost in every home, stoking over-reliance. Especially when the rare earth minerals either run out, or are restricted by the countries that own them.
To conclude, modern communications, the television, social media and internet mean that companies can no longer shirk their social and environmental obligations. Knowledge is instant and public opinion can be very powerful. A reputation can take years to build and seconds to tear down. Environmental Social Governance is to be ignored at your peril!
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