Broken Cellphone
I was very shocked when I woke up this morning knowing that my phone was not charging. There was something wrong with it. I went to a service center to find out if they can do something to repair it. Since the defect is a minor one (unable to charge the battery), I thought the fee would not be too expensive. I was surprised knowing that I will have to spend $ 150 to fix this phone. That's almost the same price with the amount of money I'll need spend if I buy a new one. I ended up buying a new one instead of fixing the phone (which later on I regret this decision). I realized that this situation is probably the reason why people prefer to buy a new product instead of repairing their broken electronics.
What would you do if your phone is broken? (Eckert 2011)
Australia is one of top ten consumers of electronic products in the world. Currently, 4 million computers and 3 millions television are sold annually in Australia, with 88 % of them ended up in landfill (PGM Refiners n.d.). The growth of e-waste stream in Australia is three times faster than general waste. E-waste, if not managed carefully, can cause serious problems due to several dangerous toxins embodied within this type of waste. E-waste can comes from different types of goods. Diagram below shows percentage of source of E-waste in Australia.
Types of E-Waste in Australia (Clean Up Australia 2009)
These different forms of E-waste contain substances hazardous to human health and the environment. The substances may leach, contaminate soil and water, and enter the food chain. The following is a list of harmful substance found in e-waste (Clean Up Australia 2009):
- Lead (e.g. in cahode ray tubes)
- Mercury (e.g. in switches)
- Arsenic
- Antimony Trioxide (in flame retardant)
- Selenium (in circuit boards)
- Cadmium (in semiconductors), and
- Cobalt (in steel for magnets)
In the third world countries, the issues on e-waste get more complicated, yet (in some cases) interesting. In one hand, the e-waste can be found anywhere due to poor official waste management system. This is dangerous. In my home country Indonesia, however, e-waste is the most valuable waste targeted by the pemulung (waste pickers). I have written a story on pemulung here.
Back to the case of my broken phone. If I am in Indonesia, I would go to one of many available service centers and get my phone fixed for a very reasonable price. There, the cost to fix my phone would only be around $10 - $20. That's ten time cheaper compared to the service cost here in Sydney. I was a also a bit surprised knowing that there's a very limited amount of hand phone service centers in Sydney. To make it worse, as I mentioned before, they charge quite expensive service fee, comparable to the price of a new hand phone.
It is important to encourage people to fix their electronic instead of buying a new one. The consumption behavior of electronic goods should be shifted to the "3R" principle: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. It has been an old jargon. However, looking at my own experience of having broken phone, the 3R is not really well-celebrated here. There should be more affordable service centers for electronics. This is what we have in Indonesia. If I have one of my electronics broken, it can easily be fixed for a cheap price. There must be a number of reasons why the service price here is so expensive. However, it's possibly because of high labor cost in Sydney compared to Jakarta. Regardless of this matter, the electronics producers should also innovate their product so that they can be used for much longer period (longer life span) and can be recycled for other use or for their new products (recyclable components).
References:
PGM Refiners n.d, 'Australian E-Waste Statistics', <http://www.pgmrefiners.com/about-e-waste/australia-ewaste-statistics/>
Clean Up Australia 2009, 'E-Waste Fact Sheet', <https://www.cleanup.org.au/PDF/au/clean-up-australia---e-waste-factsheet-final.pdf>
Eckert, L 2011, digital image,
