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Top Sustainability Issues Plaguing the Tech World

Innovation is usually seen as the key to solving environmental problems, IoT and AI being at the core of sustainability roadmap. Technological process indeed brings new benefits and conveniences to mankind and helps to track and reduce waste and emissions. Alas, it may be also directly related to environmental pollution, depletion of the bowels of the earth, or even violation of human rights. Let’s dig a little deeper into each of these problems.

E-Waste 

Any modern device is not just a set of iron and silicon, it combines a variety of elements from the periodic table. It is difficult to overestimate the environmental harm from the disposal of electronic waste, not to mention the direct danger to people. For example, monitors, boards, connectors, and circuits are rich in arsenic, lead, and mercury.  

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What Is the Value of Our Connected Devices? And Should We Sell, Hoard, or Donate?

The challenge of what we do with unused IoT devices that we own is a challenging one. I'm sure I'm not the only person with more than one smart device at home. Mine include fitness trackers and smart pet toys our cat dislikes, and they sit in a drawer unused.  I asked a few friends who all shared they had smart programs they didn't use. All were reluctant to throw them out because of e-waste. Every year, over 50 million tons of electronic waste is created, but only 12.5 percent of this is recycled. Some thought they might gift them away as they had with earlier model mobile phones, while others sat on their purchases thinking they might be of some value in the future. 

Online marketplace OnBuy.com recently conducted a survey to determine what US consumers thought to be the most valuable tech area to resell in years to come, amongst other insights. It revealed that over 49 percent of survey respondents believe they could make between 26 and 50 percent profit at resale.