Planned Obsolescence Essay

To keep up the high demand Companies come out with new products every year, encouraging consumers to re-place their perfectly fine tech gadgets for a better and upgraded version. During the production of the iPhone 6 and iPhone six plus, the Wall Street Journal revealed the daily production of the new phone was 540,000 iPhones a day, such that 74.5 million iPhones in that year. Dumping our old products have become a normal and all these discarded things end up in places like landfills or they are shipped to foreign poor countries. The electronic waste has become a huge problem that creates More than 20 million tons of e-waste every year.

new competitors and they will tend to copy the ideas of products and try to dominate the

Electronics Recycling. Electronic recycling is one consideration the company can do better with. Recycling in general lowers greenhouse gas emissions that are caused by manufacturing items for the first time. Recycling electronics conserves natural resources making cleaner air and water. The valuable resources computers and electronic components carry are metals, plastics, and glass. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), recycling a million laptops would give back enough energy for 3500 American homes’ electricity. A million cell phones would could yield 35,000 pounds of copper, 772 pounds of silver, 75 pounds of gold, and 33 pounds of palladium. Instead of throwing out the old computers and blackberry’s, the company could simply upgrade the hardware or software and then recycle the parts necessary.

technology grows or the environment around is changing, people's desires to keep up with it and

In fact, Americans are the most wasteful type of people– they buy unrecyclable bags and items, drive as much as the rest of the people in the world combined, and consume enough food to feed an extra 80 million in another part of the globe. Honestly speaking, the ones to blame aren’t them, but the selfish corporate companies who pump out tantalizing advertisements to sell their superfluous products. The words ‘new and improved’ are plastered onto ads, in bright bold letters, and have people burning holes in their wallets scrambling to buy them. Simply put, it’s an addiction. Once a better model with a slight modification is released, the old one is considered outdated and unwanted; the owners dumping them into the landfill once they’ve gotten the new model. Quindlen brings up the concept Veblen wrote about in his piece “The Theory Of The Leisure Class”, mentioning that “the buying habits of most Americans owed little to need and much to wanting . . . “ Which is evidently true; the amount of Americans who buy video game consoles to play nonstop for a week and then allow it to collect dust for the next 5 years are countless. Which brings up the concept called “keeping up with the Joneses”, reiterating the fact that companies create such manipulative advertisements to keep you wanting what you can’t have. The phrase

As used electronics is becoming a waster hazard worldwide local governments such as where I live include programs at local waste stations purely for electronics. This encourages local residents to freely drop off their electronic waste, like TV’s and computers and mobile phones to these locations where the waste is sorted and than shipped to facilities that can process this waste appropriately which also includes recycling as much material as possible. This has a

E-waste or electronic waste is the number 1 fastest growing trash in the united states since 2004. E-waste is made up of lead, mercury, , and caldium. All of these Acids are deadly to the human body. Alex lin and many other teen activists work with these acids every day. Also, These activists are trying to stop these deadly acid from seeking into the ground and killing natural resources. These acids can also get into the water systems and harm people. When you get a new electronic you would most likely through it out in the TRASH, but you should recycle old electronics. According to the Electronic recycling 101 article, 3 million tons of electronic are trough out and only 13.6 of them are recycled. This shows that many people are unaware of

It has become the new “norm” with people to replace their electronics because their devices become out of date or they feel like they have to have the latest thing. In the article “Our E-Waste Problem Is Ridiculous, And Gadget Makers Aren’t Helping,” by Christina Bonnington, the author discusses how people buy new electronics every year when they come out and the old ones get abandoned. She also talks about how many people aren’t properly recycling their old devices and how some electronics can be impossible to recycle the right way. She also talks

Technology has been changing progressively from the start. Everything about it ranging from the speed, the design, the size has been replaced with a modernized and immaculate version. Computers, phones, and televisions all started

If you where to ask a small child in Nigeria—"what do you do everyday?" They will most likely answer, "burning e-waste and selling the minerals inside in in." Not an answer you would receive from an American children living in the Untied States. Slowly this kids are being sicken by all the dangerous substances that e-waste contains. Soon this will lead for their bodies to stop growing properly. They will eventually die. Old electronics should not be thrown away, instead recycled. Because it is not healthy for the people in the countries that try to take out the material inside of the e-waste. And because we need tougher laws. Also because you can recycle.

People in the modern society feel the desire to have the newest and the best. Businesses and companies are constantly trying to keep up with these demands releasing new products continuously. With new products always being produced, people abandon their old version in the attempt to own the best. Think of the number of mobile phones, ipods and computers we have bought in the past few years. We all know the old one worked fine but the desire to have the latest and greatest model, to be in with the new technology takes over our thought process.

Giles Slade stated, “E-waste represents 2% of America's trash in landfills, but it equals 70% of overall toxic waste” (Slade, 2015). Electronic waste is extremely harmful on the environment and contaminates the water we drink, the air we breathe, and the soil we grow our vegetables in. Electronics contain high amounts of heavy metals, which are extremely toxic to all forms of life. According to GreenPeace, “it is estimated that 10-20 percent of discarded computers go to landfill” (GreenPeace, 2009). With our technology constantly advancing, we begin to find that e-waste continues to grow at an exponential rate. Many people want the newest and best technology, which leads to the older electronics being tossed out. Instead of individuals taking their old electronics to be recycled though, they tend to throw it in the waste bin and it doesn’t get the proper disposal it needs. According to GreenPeace, “it is estimated that 10-20 percent of discarded computers go to landfill” (GreenPeace, 2009). That percentage is a pretty hefty, especially when 60 Minutes estimates that “130,000 computers are thrown out every day” (CBS, 2008). With that estimate and percentage, anywhere from 13,000 to 26,000 computers are thrown out every day and not properly

While being too focused on new, bright and shiny technological innovations, a lot of people don’t think about where their old obsolete technology goes or how it affects the environment. Electronic waste (E-waste) “...comprises electrical appliances such as fridges, air conditioners, washing machines, microwave ovens, and fluorescent light bulbs; and electronic products such as computers and accessories, mobile phones, television sets and stereo equipment” (Lundgren). Recycling electronic waste is expensive, so many developing countries receive E-waste from other countries (often times illegally) to extract valuable materials from the electronics to be used for the country’s benefit. Although the country recycling this waste benefits from an economical standpoint, the environmental and health standpoint isn’t so lucky. “...rudimentary recycling techniques coupled with the amounts of e-waste processed have already resulted in adverse environmental and human health impacts, including contaminated soil and surface water” (Lundgren). With an extreme lack in any sort of safety regulations, poor workers are taken advantage of and suffer the most because “...workers and communities are exposed to many highly toxic chemicals" (Marko) and it’s all because Americans don’t want to spend the money or take the time to properly recycle these products. The

Tommy Jones begged, pleaded, and hoped beyond hope for that new touch screen phone that would immediately move him up the social ranks at his school. His wish was granted on Christmas morning. He was rewarded with that sleek, black phone with 4G capabilities. Two months later the next phone in that series is out; it is almost an exact clone of the first model with the most moderate changes, and suddenly Tommy’s phone is obsolete. There was no great improvement when compared to the old model, no; the corporation knows that it will sell, no matter how small the improvement. This model of constant obsolescence has become the norm in the economy today; companies reap profits with mediocre products, completely uncaring of the consumers. To put

In 1949 Harvey J Earl of General Motors pioneered ‘Planned Obsolescence’. He realised that by adding fashionable products when new trends come in older products would be discarded in favour of the latest fashion.