Your phone fits in your pocket, but it contains dozens of different elements dug out of the ground on several continents: lithium and cobalt in the battery, copper in the wiring, gold on the connectors, and rare earth metals in the speaker. Every product you buy has a story that starts long before the store and continues long after you throw it away. Looking at that whole story, called the product's life cycle, helps people decide which products to make, buy, repair, recycle and regulate.
- Raw material extraction: mining ores, pumping oil, or growing and harvesting crops.
- Processing and manufacturing: refining ores into pure metals, making plastics from oil, and assembling parts. This stage often uses the most energy.
- Transport: moving materials and products by ship, train and truck, which burns fuel.
- Use: the product does its job, and some products use energy or release chemicals while you use them.
- End of life: the product is reused, repaired, recycled, burned or sent to a landfill.
| Element | Job in a smartphone | Where it comes from and an impact |
|---|---|---|
| Lithium | Carries charge in the rechargeable battery | Pumped from salty brines in South America or mined from rock (mostly in Australia; Canada mines some too, and new mines are planned in Ontario); brine mining uses large amounts of water in dry regions |
| Cobalt | Part of the battery's positive electrode | More than half the world's supply comes from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where some mines have been linked to child labour and unsafe conditions |
| Copper | Wiring and circuit boards | Mined in Canada and around the world; mine waste can release acids and metals into nearby water |
| Gold | Coats connectors because it does not corrode | At a typical mine, about a tonne of rock is dug up and processed for every few grams of gold |
| Neodymium (a rare earth) | Strong magnets in the speaker and vibration motor | Processing rare earth ores produces toxic and sometimes radioactive waste |
| Indium | In a coating on the touch screen that conducts electricity yet is transparent | Produced in small amounts as a by-product of zinc mining |
Weighing the impacts
- Social impacts affect people's health, safety and communities: working conditions in mines, the health of people living near a smelter or landfill, and who gets access to new technology.
- Environmental impacts affect air, water, land and living things: habitat cleared for mines, greenhouse gases from processing and transport, and toxic metals such as lead and mercury leaking from discarded electronics.
- Economic impacts involve money and jobs: mining and manufacturing jobs, the cost of cleaning up pollution, and the value of metals recovered by recycling. A tonne of old phones contains far more gold than a tonne of typical gold ore.
- An Ontario example: decades of nickel and copper smelting around Sudbury killed vegetation and acidified lakes. Pollution controls and a long community regreening program, which has planted millions of trees, have brought much of the land and many lakes back to life.
Safe disposal of household chemicals
Leftover paint, solvents, pesticides, cleaners, motor oil, batteries and old medicines are household hazardous waste. Pouring them down a drain or onto the ground can poison water and soil, because water treatment plants are not designed to remove many of these chemicals. Instead, keep them in their original labelled containers and take them to a municipal household hazardous waste depot or collection day. Most Ontario pharmacies take back unused medicines, and many stores collect used batteries and electronics for recycling.
Green chemistry and emerging technologies
Green chemistry means designing chemical products and processes that reduce or eliminate hazardous substances from the start, instead of cleaning up pollution afterward. Its principles, set out by Paul Anastas and John Warner in 1998, include preventing waste, using safer solvents (such as water), using renewable raw materials such as plants, saving energy, and designing products that break down harmlessly after use.
| Technology | How it works | What drives it |
|---|---|---|
| Battery recycling | Used batteries are shredded and dissolved in chemical solutions to recover lithium, cobalt, nickel and copper | Demand for electric vehicles, the cost of mining new metals, and keeping batteries out of landfills |
| Carbon dioxide in concrete | Captured carbon dioxide is injected into fresh concrete, where it reacts to form solid calcium carbonate (a technology developed by a company in Nova Scotia) | Climate targets, since making cement releases a lot of carbon dioxide |
| Plant-based plastics | Plastics such as polylactic acid (PLA) are made from corn starch or sugar cane instead of oil; some can be composted in industrial facilities | Concern about plastic waste and fossil fuel use |
| Low-phosphate detergents | Detergents are made with much less phosphate, a nutrient that feeds algae blooms in lakes | Government limits, introduced in Canada after algae blooms in lakes such as Lake Erie |
| Low-VOC paints | Water-based paints release fewer volatile organic compounds (VOCs), chemicals that pollute indoor air and help form smog | Health concerns, regulations and consumer demand |
New chemical technologies are usually driven by a mix of forces: laws and regulations, the cost and scarcity of raw materials, consumer demand, health and safety concerns, and climate and environmental goals. They also bring trade-offs. Plant-based plastics use farmland, and recycling plants use energy and chemicals of their own. Judging a technology fairly means looking at its whole life cycle.