By Sunny Yip | 09 June 2023 | 0 Comments
Environmental Impact Facts
Saving wildlife and rainforests
Recycling protects rainforests as it means we don’t need as many raw materials. Protecting rainforests helps prevent global warming and habitat destruction.
Protecting natural resources
Making products using recycled materials uses less energy than making products with raw materials. In other words, making products from recycled materials protects natural resources.
Cell phone battery impact on water pollution
Another key environmental waste statistic surrounds the dumped phone batteries that are polluting the world’s water. In fact, it is estimated that water volumes equivalent to that needed to fill 80 billion Olympic-size swimming pools is polluted every year by batteries dumped with our phones.
Dangerous materials to keep out of landfills
It is possible to make new things with materials recycled from mobile phones, but this is not the only reason for recycling. Recycling also prevents materials like coltan, lead, and beryllium from being sent to landfills. Substances like these don’t naturally break down. In fact, toxic materials in cell phones have been linked to cancer and diseases
E-Waste recycling best practices
There are best practice recycling channels for handling e-waste, but it is believed only 29 percent of waste goes through these channels.
Health impact on brain child development
A lot of e-waste is not recycled properly. Instead, it is sent to developing countries to be broken down into component parts and repurposed. This causes problems as toxic chemicals often leak into soil and waterways. This can cause cancer as well as damaging nervous systems and affecting child brain development. It affects wildlife too.
Reducing the bee population
Bees are important to all life on the planet, but phones are believed to cause them problems. Specifically, it’s thought mobile phones interfere with the natural navigation system that bees use to get back to their hives. As a result, many bees can’t find their way back, causing what is known as Colony Collapse Disorder. The interference to the bee’s navigation system is caused by the radiation our phones produce.
Eastern Lowland gorilla populations fallen by 70 percent
One important material in mobile phones is coltan, which is used in capacitors. About 80 percent of the world’s coltan is in West Africa, where it is mined from. A lot of this mining is illegal however. That illegal mining often results in the destruction of gorilla habitats, threatening their survival. This habitat destruction is part of the reason why populations of the Eastern Lowland gorilla have fallen by 70 percent. Recycling coltan can help to prevent this illegal mining and its consequences.
Recycling protects rainforests as it means we don’t need as many raw materials. Protecting rainforests helps prevent global warming and habitat destruction.
Protecting natural resources
Making products using recycled materials uses less energy than making products with raw materials. In other words, making products from recycled materials protects natural resources.
Cell phone battery impact on water pollution
Another key environmental waste statistic surrounds the dumped phone batteries that are polluting the world’s water. In fact, it is estimated that water volumes equivalent to that needed to fill 80 billion Olympic-size swimming pools is polluted every year by batteries dumped with our phones.
Dangerous materials to keep out of landfills
It is possible to make new things with materials recycled from mobile phones, but this is not the only reason for recycling. Recycling also prevents materials like coltan, lead, and beryllium from being sent to landfills. Substances like these don’t naturally break down. In fact, toxic materials in cell phones have been linked to cancer and diseases
E-Waste recycling best practices
There are best practice recycling channels for handling e-waste, but it is believed only 29 percent of waste goes through these channels.
Health impact on brain child development
A lot of e-waste is not recycled properly. Instead, it is sent to developing countries to be broken down into component parts and repurposed. This causes problems as toxic chemicals often leak into soil and waterways. This can cause cancer as well as damaging nervous systems and affecting child brain development. It affects wildlife too.
Reducing the bee population
Bees are important to all life on the planet, but phones are believed to cause them problems. Specifically, it’s thought mobile phones interfere with the natural navigation system that bees use to get back to their hives. As a result, many bees can’t find their way back, causing what is known as Colony Collapse Disorder. The interference to the bee’s navigation system is caused by the radiation our phones produce.
Eastern Lowland gorilla populations fallen by 70 percent
One important material in mobile phones is coltan, which is used in capacitors. About 80 percent of the world’s coltan is in West Africa, where it is mined from. A lot of this mining is illegal however. That illegal mining often results in the destruction of gorilla habitats, threatening their survival. This habitat destruction is part of the reason why populations of the Eastern Lowland gorilla have fallen by 70 percent. Recycling coltan can help to prevent this illegal mining and its consequences.
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