Environmental Assessment of the Mobile Phone Considering the Consumption of Rare Metals

Abstract

Nowadays mobile phones are essential for our daily life. The number of users of mobile phone in the end of November 2010 in Japan is nearly the population of Japan. The percentage of using precious metals in mobile phones is higher than that in other electric appliances to fulfill varies requirements. However, the assessment of mobile phone mainly focused on CO2 emission, and few case studies were analyzed the environmental impact of resource depletion. Therefore, in this case study for mobile phone, the impact on resource depletion was evaluated as well as global warming. The mobile phones were actually disassembled, and the number of parts and their weights were measured. CO2 emissions of all of the devices in mobile phones were calculated by using existing inventory database. The mobile phone manufactured in 2004 and 2010 were analyzed to detect the type and the amount of metals using the ICP (inductively coupled plasma) method. As a result, the resource depletion is evaluated by using TMR (total materials requirement), the LIME (life cycle impact assessment method based on endpoint modeling) damage factor and the LIME characterization factor. Several impact assessment methods were applied,and compared their results to raise common points and differences.