Once upon a time and still today…
I am often mocked for not keeping up with technology and smart gadgets. Friends and family insisted for quite a long time that I changed my phone. It was indeed obsolete, big and had no touch screen while nearly everyone around had it. It’s worth noting that it was totally functional.
As a personal statement and to show how much I care, I “built” my wooden phone. Infinite storage space and wi-fi connection, unlimited credit and magic apps to help me be in the present moment and always in deep contact with the world.
One day I even took my homemade phone to a business meeting and put it next to my notebook on the table, just like the others did with their new technology mobiles. Nobody said anything, but you should have seen their faces.
#Lookaround. How often do you change your phone or get rid of functional electronic devices in general? What do you do with the old ones? How much do you care for esthetics and performance? How much is the change of the device really needed?
Hello World
Material: wood, markers
Size: 0.042m x 0.133m x 0.03m
Did you know that... 💡
Electronic waste comes from a variety of home appliances like air conditioners, televisions, electric cookers, microwaves, radio to information tech equipment like computers, mobile phones, batteries, hard disks, circuit boards, monitors etc. Studies estimate that the world's mountain of discarded electronics, in 2021 alone, weighed 57 million tonnes*.
People buy a lot, increasing the volume of the produced equipment and the waste. Experts warn that, due to the high use, some elements used in smartphones, for instance, gallium, arsenic, indium, yttrium or tantalum, can run out in the next century.*
Take-away 📚
E-waste recycling refers to recovering material from electronic waste that can be used in new electronic products. What makes e-recycling difficult is that equipment must be partly manually dismantled and only afterwards mechanically processed. Besides a few precious elements (like plastic, glass, metal, iron, aluminium, zinc or nickel) which can be easily extracted, reused or recycled, the majority of electronic devices contain other problematic components and heavy metals that are harmful to health (lead, cadmium, mercury) **
When disposing of your old phone, for instance, in the trash bin, you participate in the emission of polluting gases in the air. If you recycle it instead, it makes a slight difference. One million mobile phones could deliver nearly 16 tonnes of copper, 350kg of silver, 34kg of gold and 15kg of palladium while a million laptops recycled, will have saved the equivalent of electric power capable of running 3657 households for one year. *** Amazing, right?
Related topics to reflect on 🤔
Export of second-hand electric goods to developing and poor countries
Where does the majority of e-waste exactly end up?
Can e-waste mining support the conservation of natural resources?
“One man’s treasure is also the same man’s poison”
More #microinspirations 🧚
Atlas Endeavours
Material: small canvas, micro motherboard, tree branches, wood silhouette
Size: 0.075m x 0.038m x 0.035m
Wood 5
Material: wood, markers
Size: 0.10m x 0.15m x 0.02m
Poste Restante
Material: cardboard, batteries, post stamp, little light mechanism
Size: 0.065m x 0.07m x 0.01m
Inspired? 🤏 ♻️
Can't wait to #microart with us? Extract material or an object worth reminding us all about, create a #microstory around it, and send it via email. The stage of our art blog and social media is yours!
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