This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: The most sustainable smartphone is the one you currently own. An estimated 80% of your phone's negative impact on the environment happens before the first minute of use—before it is even unboxed.
One smartphone contains more than 70 raw materials and more than 50 metals. Many of these need to be mined from Earth. A standard 200g phone involves extracting resources from more than 200kg (440 pounds) of raw materials.
That's equivalent to the weight of 200 standard bags of sugar, 100 bricks or one adult grizzly bear. The mining of raw materials devastates landscapes, disrupts local water supplies and pollutes ecosystems. Entire communities in countries such as Argentina, Chile, Bolivia, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Ecuador and the Philippines have been displaced to make way for mining sites.
Some countries ignore the child labor used in their mining and processing operations. Many of your phone's critical raw materials are found in only a handful of places. That means control over those materials matters both economically and politically, creating geopolitical tensions, fragile supply chains and competition for access.
In short, behind the phone in your hand sits a story that involves environmental damage, pollution, human rights violations and dangerous geopolitics. A recent survey of 6,000 adults in six countries (the U.K., U.S., France, Germany, Spain and Japan) found that more than half could not name a single raw material in their smartphone. The survey, commissioned by Back Market (a global tech refurbishment company), found that only 1 in 4 people feel confident they know what goes into their phone.
Seven in 10 have never thought to investigate the origins of the device they use every day. Awareness of the consequences of mining can influence consumers' decisions. Seven in 10 people surveyed said child labor would make them less likely to buy a new phone, while nearly two-thirds are interested in seeing how materials are extracted and processed.
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