Environmental

Every digital system has an environmental cost before it is even switched on. A phone, laptop or games console starts as rock and metal dug out of the ground, is built in a factory that uses large amounts of electricity, then travels hundreds or thousands of miles to reach you.

Mining raw materials

Devices need raw materials such as copper, gold, tin and aluminium, plus rare materials like lithium and cobalt that are found in only small amounts. Getting them means clearing land and blasting rock, which destroys habitats and can pollute soil and streams.

• Heavy digging machines burn diesel, releasing carbon dioxide.
• Metals such as copper are spread thinly through the rock, so huge amounts of ore must be dug out and crushed, which uses a lot of energy and leaves large waste heaps.
• The crushed rock is then heated or treated with chemicals to separate out the metal, burning yet more fuel.

For example, the lithium in a phone battery is pumped from under salt flats, and the tiny amount in one phone adds up when millions are made each year.

Making and moving the device

Factories that refine metals, print circuit boards and mould plastic cases use a lot of electricity. Much of the world's electricity still comes from burning fossil fuels such as coal and gas, so manufacturing releases carbon emissions into the atmosphere. The same happens when the finished device is moved: cargo ships, planes and lorries burn fuel and give off carbon dioxide and fumes.

So even a device that is switched off has already added to climate change through the way it was made and delivered.

Every digital system uses electricity while it is on, and the amount depends on three things: the device (a large desktop draws more than a phone), its settings (a bright screen or active Wi-Fi uses more power) and how you use it (gaming or video streaming uses more than typing a document). A usage and settings policy is a set of rules or defaults that reduce this energy use and help a battery last longer between charges.

Automatic power settings

Auto power off schedules a device to shut down at a set time, so it cannot be left running overnight by accident, which saves electricity. Auto sleep (standby) puts a device into a low-power state after a period of non-use: the screen turns off and the processor slows right down, cutting power use while keeping your work ready. An animated screen saver does not save power, because the screen and system still draw almost the same current.

Everyday power-saving choices

• Lower the screen brightness: the display is one of the biggest power users, so dimming it reduces power consumption and the device needs charging less often.
• Turn off Wi-Fi and Bluetooth when not needed: these radios use power to search for networks and stay connected.
• Close unused tabs and apps: each open tab or app keeps the processor working and memory in use, so closing them means less processing and less power drawn.
• Use airplane mode or low power mode: airplane mode switches off the wireless radios, while low power mode limits non-essential tasks such as automatic updates and visual effects, so the battery lasts longer.

For example, a phone used on a long coach trip for revision videos and music might fall to 20% battery if the screen stays at full brightness, Bluetooth headphones stay connected and several apps are left open. A shorter idle time before standby, a dimmer screen, closed apps and low power mode can leave enough charge to last until arrival. Organisations often apply these settings across all their devices as a policy, rather than relying on each person to remember.

When a digital system reaches the end of its useful life, throwing it away creates waste. Old phones, tablets, laptops, printers, cables and televisions are all part of a fast-growing rubbish stream called e-waste, also known as techno trash. A lot of e-waste ends up in landfill — holes in the ground where household and business rubbish is buried under soil and covered over.

Poisoning soil, water and food chains

Digital devices are not harmless once buried. Their circuit boards, screens and batteries contain toxic chemicals, and as casings crack and corrode in the damp, those chemicals leak out into the surrounding ground. Rain then washes them into streams, rivers and underground water supplies. Plants take up contaminated water, animals eat the plants, and people eat both — so the poison travels along the food chain and builds up in the bodies of wildlife and humans. The result can be serious ill health, such as damage to the nervous system or organs, in animals and people living near or downstream of a dump.

Greenhouse gases and climate change

Buried e-waste also produces greenhouse gases as the waste slowly breaks down without oxygen. Greenhouse gases trap heat in the atmosphere, which contributes to climate change and global warming. Other toxic gases given off in landfill add to air pollution. One device in a skip may look like a small problem, but multiply it by the millions of devices thrown away each year and the gases add up.

Why burning is not the answer

Some waste is incinerated (burned) instead of buried. Burning e-waste can release toxic fumes that harm people who breathe them in, along with carbon emissions that add to climate change. This is why e-waste should not be sent to landfill or burned: the chemicals and gases it releases damage soil, water, wildlife, health and the climate. Keeping e-waste out of landfill keeps those toxins and gases out of the environment.

When a device is no longer useful to you, it can still be useful to someone else. Responsible disposal means getting rid of old equipment in a way that keeps it out of landfill, so the device, its parts or its materials can be used again.

Donate, sell or recycle

• Donating — a device that still works can go to someone who needs it, such as handing a working tablet to a local youth club or a younger cousin. The device keeps being used, so its useful life is extended and less waste is created.
• Selling — a second-hand shop or an online buyer may pay for a phone that still switches on, which extends its life in the same way and gives you some money back.
• Recycling — equipment that no longer works can be taken to a recycling point where it is taken apart. Recycling is not just about destroying devices: working parts can be reused and the materials inside, such as metals and glass, can be recovered.

WEEE regulations

WEEE stands for Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment. These regulations are law, not a voluntary scheme: sellers and manufacturers have a legal duty to take back and recycle the electrical goods they supply. That means you can hand an old device back to the shop or the manufacturer and they must take it back for recycling. For example, a shop that sells electric kettles has to accept an old kettle back for recycling when a customer buys a new one.

Why this matters

Recovering materials through recycling means fewer new raw materials have to be mined or made from scratch. That saves the energy needed to produce them and reduces the pollution that production causes. Donating and selling do their bit too, because every extra year a device is used is a year without a new one being manufactured and without waste being created.

When you replace a digital system, the old devices are retired and new ones are brought in. That swap has environmental costs: it creates more waste and pollution, and it increases the energy used to make and move replacement equipment.

More toxic waste

Most replacements turn old devices into waste. Digital devices can contain materials that are harmful if they escape into the environment, so replacing systems increases the amount of toxic waste that must be managed. If this waste is dumped or poorly handled, harmful substances can get into soil and water. That is pollution, and it can harm wildlife when animals drink contaminated water or eat contaminated food.

Extra manufacturing and transport

New systems do not appear from nowhere. Factories must make them, and vehicles must deliver them. Both stages usually burn fossil fuels, which releases carbon emissions and fumes into the air. Replacing equipment more often means these emissions happen more often. Sometimes e-waste is burned too, which releases toxic fumes. For example, imagine you run a garden centre and swap all your handheld stock scanners for new models. The old scanners become waste, while making and delivering the replacements adds to factory and transport emissions.

Landfill and climate change

Not all replaced equipment is recycled. Much of it is thrown away and can end up in landfill. More replacement means more waste sent to landfill, and landfill sites release greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change. Together, these effects create wider environmental problems: more pollution and harm to wildlife, higher carbon emissions, climate change and damage to ecosystems.

When a digital system becomes slow or unreliable, an organisation can upgrade parts or replace the whole system. The choice balances cost, performance and environmental impact.

Upgrading

An upgrade keeps the main system and improves one or more parts. In a traditional desktop, adding more memory (RAM) or fitting a larger solid-state drive can often be done with little effort. Upgrading extends the system's life and reduces waste, so fewer new devices are made. However, it is limited by compatibility: a new part must work with the existing processor, connections and software. An upgraded machine may also not match the performance of a newly designed system.

Replacing

A replacement means buying a new system and moving the organisation’s work onto it. This may be needed when upgrades cannot deliver enough performance, when an old system needs frequent repairs, or when its software updates have been discontinued. Replacing avoids downtime (time when a system cannot be used) from repeated breakdowns. Newer hardware is faster, so staff complete tasks more quickly and are more productive. Newer systems are usually more energy-efficient, so electricity bills are lower. They also have better support, because manufacturers and software companies still provide updates and help.

Weighing it up

For example, a small three-screen cinema could add memory to its box-office computers so they keep working for another year. If customers still queue while the booking screen loads, and the ticket-printing software no longer receives updates, lost ticket sales and repair bills can make a full replacement the better choice.

Electronic distribution means making a document available as a digital file, such as a PDF you open from a shared folder or a class website, instead of giving people printed pages. It is usually more environmentally friendly because no printed copy has to be made or delivered to you.

A hard copy uses paper, made from trees, and ink or toner. Printing also uses electricity, and delivering paper copies by post or van burns fuel. Electronic distribution avoids these steps for each reader, so it uses fewer raw materials and causes fewer carbon emissions from transport than printing a copy for everyone.

For example, a youth club shares its summer timetable with 80 families. Printed, that means 80 sheets, printer ink and trips to deliver them. If the times change, the printed copies are binned and new ones are printed. Shared as a digital file, the timetable is edited once and reopened by families without a new print run, so less paper, ink, printing energy and waste are created.