Smartphones are available on the market with a variety of design characteristics and purchase prices. Recent trends show that their replacement cycle has become on average shorter than two years, which comes with environmental impacts that could be mitigated through a prolonged use of such devices. This paper analyses limiting states and design trends affecting the durability of smartphones, and identifies reliability and repairability measures to extend the product lifetime. Technical trade-offs between reliability and repairability aspects are also discussed. Smartphones are often replaced prematurely because of socio-economic and technical reasons. Specific hardware parts (e.g. display, battery, back cover), as well as software, can be critical. Improving the reliability of smartphones can reduce the occurrence of early replacements. Apart from the bottom-line consideration of reliability aspects for electronics, this can be pursued through the design of devices which: i) are resistant to mechanical stresses; ii) implement durable batteries; iii) offer sufficient adaptability to future conditions of use (e.g. in terms of software/firmware updates, memory and storage capacity). However, if and when failures occur, repairs have to be rapid and economically viable. This can be facilitated through modular design concepts, ease of disassembly of key parts, availability of spare parts and repair services. As common elements of the two strategies, easily-available instructions on use, maintenance and repair are also needed. The analysis of devices on the market suggests that it is possible to design satisfactorily reliable devices without compromising repairability excessively. However, trade-offs between these two aspects can occur. Considerations about reliability and/or repairability should be integrated in the design of all smartphones. The findings of this paper can be used by decision makers (e.g. manufacturers, designers, consumers and policy makers) interested in enhancing the durability of smartphones. This is particularly timely considering the policy attention on smartphones at the EU level.
The increased diversity and complexity of plastics used in modern devices, such as electrical and electronic equipment (EEE), can have negative impacts on their recyclability. Today, the main economic driver for waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) recycling stems from metal recovery. WEEE plastics recycling, on the other hand, still represents a major challenge. Strategies like design ‘for’, but also the much younger concept of design ‘from’ recycling play a key role in closing the material loops within a circular economy. While these strategies are usually analysed separately, this brief report harmonises them in comprehensive Design for Circularity guidelines, established in a multi-stakeholder collaboration with industry leaders from the entire WEEE value chain. The guidelines were developed at the product and part levels. They are divided in five categories: (1) avoidance of hazardous substances; (2) enabling easy access and removal of hazardous or polluting parts; (3) use of recyclable materials; (4) use of material combinations and connections allowing easy liberation; (5) use of recycled materials. These guidelines are the first harmonised set to be released for the EEE industry. They can readily serve decision-makers from different levels, including product designers and manufacturers as well as policymakers.
Premature obsolescence of electrical and electronic equipment is often considered one of the major factors driving the waste generation from this product category. Being the result of a mix of many technical and non-technical elements, this phenomenon is as complex as it is important. However, in order to increase products' useful lifetime, better insight into the mechanisms of premature obsolescence is indispensable.The EU-funded project PROMPT (Premature Obsolescence Multi-stakeholder Product Testing Program) aims to reduce the information asymmetries between producers and consumers by making premature obsolescence measurable. As part of its activities, consumer organisations in seven European countries (Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Spain and The Netherlands) started collecting comparable data on consumers' experiences with failed products. A continuously available online platform was launched in five of these countries, allowing consumers to report products of which they expected longer use. In Germany and The Netherlands, comparable data was collected using an online survey. This paper has the main objective to present and discuss the preliminary results from the analysis of the data collected in the different countries. The results show direct consumer feedback on the products that are failing most often and their respective failure modes, as well as consumers' experiences with and attitudes towards repair.
This note focuses on two types of distortions that can prevent the market from functioning optimally. The first results from CO 2 emissions generated by the consumption of fossil fuels. The second is related to R&D activities, since innovators are generally incapable of securing the totality of the benefits created by their innovations. Two types of instruments can be used in order to correct for these externalities: a carbon price on the one hand, and research subsidies on the other hand. These instruments tend to interact in a complex manner when the economy is in equilibrium. The paper first recalls the basic economic principles which govern the correction of environmental and research externalities and describes four endogenous growth models that provide information about the interaction between related public policies. Although they differ in the ways how innovation, production, the climate and damages have been taken into account, all of them reach the following consensual result: the beneficial effect of the carbon price is reinforced by the simultaneous implementation of R&D subsidies in favour of carbon-free energies and vice-versa. Furthermore, early action is necessary in order to reduce the social costs of climate change mitigation.
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