Today's world is increasingly oriented toward technology and digitalization. Meetings today can happen simultaneously from around the world. Scientists are saying that robots will be more intelligent than humans by 2029, helping us in several fields including engineering or medicine. The revolution we are currently facing is mostly resulting from this technology, a source of incredible progress, but carrying a heavy environmental cost. More than 70 different components are needed to create the phone everyone has today in his/her pocket, and yet, people are changing smartphones every two years, even though the previous one still works. Programmed obsolescence, digital ecological footprint... Internet and the overall digital spectrum are often considered as one of the biggest polluters on the planet. And with the increasing use and dependence human have on these technologies, the pollution created is highly likely to increase in the future. But what is exactly digital pollution and where does it come from?
Every-time we use our smartphone and computers to make a Google research, to watch Netflix or to scroll through Facebook, a considerable ecological footprint is left behind. Indeed, Digital For The Planet mentions that digital pollution comes from 3 main sources: manufacturing, usage, and e-waste. Hence, pollution starts with the components of your device, continues while you use it, and ends with its recycling process after having been thrown away.
Focusing on production, electronic devices manufacturing consumes a lot of resources and materials, including rare metals and non-renewables resources. Besides, one's must consider the pollution generated by these resources’ extraction, transport and then, the waste generated by the devices at the end of their life. Still considering Digital for the Planet numbers, in 2015, 710 million electronic devices were created, generating 1,5 million tons of waste. For instance, creating a smartphone implies 80% of environmental and social impact, harming not only the manufacturers but the environment, from the material sourcing to the assembly of the device. These digital devices, like smartphones, televisions, tablets, washing machines, computers, voice assistants, or internet boxes, are omnipresent in our lives and require a massive amount of plastic, glass, and metals. Taking the smartphone example again, each of them is made from 30 to 50% of plastic, 10 to 20% of glass and what is left, from metals like aluminium, zinc, tin, chrome or even gold, argent or platinum. Additionally, to enhance their performance, like better speed or a better autonomy, more functionalities are needed, necessitating more data, requiring more storage in polluting data centres.
These continuous need for better performance of devices creates its own pollution. The Guardian reported that "billions of internet-connected devices could produce 3.5% of global emissions within 10 years and 14% by 2040". Powering internet is, by itself, responsible for at least 2% of global carbon emissions, and 16% of electricity consumption: if the Internet was a country, it would be the world's 7th largest polluter! This pollution comes mainly from data centres, implying the transfer and mass storages of all the data we generate. To achieve more performance, more functionalities are needed, necessitating more data, requiring more storage in polluting data centres. Even if some Tech giants like Google, Apple or Facebook have made the commitment to power their data centres with 100% renewable energy, it is not the case of them all. Many web hosting providers including Amazon, especially its highly polluting Amazon Web Service (the world's biggest cloud service provider), did not make the same promise, which is contributing to the increasing pollution created by this industry.
Finally, electronic waste (e-waste) is another major problem regarding digital pollution. In 2019 alone, people discarded 53 million metric tons of electronic waste. Even if national and international institutions try to push toward a more circular economy and better management of the e-waste, it is the fastest growing waste stream in the EU. In the EU, 52,7% of the e-waste comes from large household appliances, 14,6% from consumer equipment and photovoltaic panels, and 14,1% from IT and telecommunications equipment in 2020. The main problem lies in the fact that, in the EU alone, less than 40% of this generated waste is recycled. 23% of developed countries' e-waste ends up being shipped to developing countries like China, Ghana, Pakistan or India. Unlike the US or Europe, these countries do not have environmental or social regulations to protect their country from this possibly harmful waste.
These several issues have been raised for almost 10 years now, and voices are pushing towards creating a more responsible sustainable digital world. This can be done by focusing on one of the three levels mentioned by Digital for the Planet. Establishing a virtuous circle to reuse or recycle old materials and metals, creating eco-designed websites... Proposing responsible and sustainable digital tools and solutions is key to our future if we want to live in a fully digitalised world.
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