Abstract
Annually, it is estimated that about 4 billion units of consumer electronics for mobile communications are produced worldwide. This could lead to various ecological imbalances unless the design and disposal of the products are handled optimally. To illustrate how industry looks at and responds to the increasing social awareness, this article describes how sustainability is successfully implemented in practice at a large Chinese company, developing and producing various kinds of electronic products used for communication. It also describes how a variety of eco-innovations and business models contribute to reducing the environmental impact; for example, through increased recovery and recycling. A new kind of eco-design procedure is presented along with a new methodology which shows how a mobile phone gradually becomes more sustainable from one generation to the next. The issues with and set-up of new eco-labeling schemes for mobile phones, eco-rating, is described in detail. The conclusion is that due to high competition between companies, the industry acts resourcefully and a lot is done to the save the ecological environment.
Highlights
With recent explosive growth in the market for new Information and Communication Technology (ICT) devices—smartphones and tablets in particular—and the transition of the television (TV) from a basic receiver into a digital media center and entertainment hub, these digital consumer devices dominate global sales of consumer electronics [1].Laptop and mobile phone global sales are expected to rise from around 3 billion units annually to more than 4 billion [1]
Follows a description of the proposed eco-design method EcoSmarT applied to the development of B to C
From the literature review we found that the description of implementation of eco-design is too vague and we needed to research the topic further
Summary
Laptop and mobile phone global sales are expected to rise from around 3 billion units annually to more than 4 billion [1]. This could lead to more and more e-waste accumulation due to short lifetimes of mobile phones and relatively low recyclability and re-use rates, ~10% of all units [2]. There is a growing interest of sustainability and methods to measure it as it leads to additional efficiencies. It pays to pursue green innovation [3]. Based on various fields, such as eco-design, design for environment (DFE), design for sustainability, life cycle engineering, and eco-innovation, several specific software programs and methods have been developed to tackle these issues [4,5]
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