Pollution solution - dissolving smartwatches

"Dissolvable smartwatch makes for easier electronics recycling"

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I didn't know that the disposal of smartwatches was a problem. I guess they've become so popular and cheap that they are now considered disposable. I would normally suggest that the technology is more appropriate for smartphone, but those already self-destruct if they are dropped, splashed with water, bent, overcharged, or repaired. Still, it would be a good way to provide hardware upgrades. Just wash away the old nano-particle PCB, and insert the new and improved replacement.

Of course, dissolvable nano-metals begs the question of how to dispose of the residual nano-debris and residue. I suspect that there might be something toxic in the mix. Of course, the same effect can be obtained with a large hammer or hydraulic press, but that's not suitable for publication. Athletic smartwatches might also be a problem. Sweat to much and the surface of the watch might look like sandpaper after 40 hrs exposure. Hopefully, the process is not cumulative or just about anything in a wet or humid environment will eventually self-destruct.

If the technology were scaled to something large like automobiles, it might be useful. Just park your car in the rain for 2 days and it disintegrates into a pile of nano-rubbish. Don't like the color of the paint? Just wash the car for 40 days and 40 nights, spray with primer, and it's ready for another color of removable nano-particle paint.

Progress blunders onward. Soon, everyone will be buying dissolving smartphones.

Reply to
Jeff Liebermann
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My discarded phones must make up under 1 PPM of the mass of the garbage, recycling, and compost that we create.

I received two synchros from ebay that came embedded in six layers of packaging. Amazon often hits three.

Reply to
John Larkin

Yes, but there are millions of smartphone users doing exactly the same thing. If all of the world's 6.4 trillion smartphone users:

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suddenly decided to simultaneously upgrade to the latest and greatest smartphone, the worlds e-Waste recycling system would come to a constipated stop from the overload.

The average warranty and life of a smartphone has been declared by various vendors to be no more than 5 (or 7) years. For example:

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Actually, it's more often than a new phone every 5 years, but I'll use the 5 year figure:
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With 6.4 trillion smartphones in circulation, all of which are upgraded every 5 years, that's 1.3 trillion smartphones that need recycling or refurbishment, every year. At 200 grams per phone, that would be: 0.2Kg * 1.3*10^12 = 26 billion Kg = 260 million metric tons of smartphones per year.

Amazon packaging is an exercise in minimalism. The cardboard is barely strong enough to hold the contents. The black reinforce tape has barely enough glue to remain attached to the cardboard, which seems to be coated with something designed to prevent the tape from sticking. If you want something to actually arrive intact and not have the box fall apart in transit, it requires several layers of boxes and packing. However, the general tendency of the Amazon packaging to fall apart does make it easier to break down and recycle.

"The Recycling Rates of Smartphone Metals" (2015)

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Reply to
Jeff Liebermann

Trillion?

10^12?
Reply to
John Larkin

Oops. Billion.

Oops again . That should be 10^9 or billion. My usual order of magnitude error seems to have been upgraded to three orders of magnitude error. Sorry.

Still: 0.2Kg * 1.3*10^9 = 0.26 billion Kg = 260,000 metric tons of smartphones recycled (or trashed) each year is still a rather large amount of smartphones that need to be processed, recycles, or trashed.

Reply to
Jeff Liebermann

Surely a large %age of the worlds 7 billion humans have never had a smartphone!

Reply to
Mike Coon

Sorry. Some unconscious part of my brain just sanity-checks any number that it sees. That catches a lot of mistakes. It's good at guessing too.

Reply to
jlarkin

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