Typically, replacement parts are only manufactured during the lifetime of the device. Because of that, I don’t think that the replacement batteries would contribute significantly to waste.
People will also perhaps then buy replacement batteries when handing down/selling devices, where they would have just have managed with degraded performance in the past.
Most of the enviromental impacts are from mining and disposal, or lack of recycling. I looked it up and there is a 90% recovery rate for the minerals in the batteries alone if done properly.
Maybe asking manufacturers to make more batteries per model isn’t a good answer, it has an additional cost of resources per model/battery and most people do not dispose of batteries correctly anyway and just dump them in the trash. It might be better enviromentally to offer real incentives to manufacturers, retailers and people to return their phones and recycle,reproccess the existing components.
I worked in enterprise IT support for 10 years and battery degredation/failure in laptops and mobile devices was not that much of an issue. Waste electrical and electronic equipment however, who knows how much is actually recycled properly, even most house hold batteries are thrown in the trash.
Typically, replacement parts are only manufactured during the lifetime of the device. Because of that, I don’t think that the replacement batteries would contribute significantly to waste.
What’s the problem with this?
Most of the enviromental impacts are from mining and disposal, or lack of recycling. I looked it up and there is a 90% recovery rate for the minerals in the batteries alone if done properly.
Maybe asking manufacturers to make more batteries per model isn’t a good answer, it has an additional cost of resources per model/battery and most people do not dispose of batteries correctly anyway and just dump them in the trash. It might be better enviromentally to offer real incentives to manufacturers, retailers and people to return their phones and recycle,reproccess the existing components.
I worked in enterprise IT support for 10 years and battery degredation/failure in laptops and mobile devices was not that much of an issue. Waste electrical and electronic equipment however, who knows how much is actually recycled properly, even most house hold batteries are thrown in the trash.