Fashion, advertising, special offers… Everything encourages us to buy new and buy new again! Yet, the rapid renewal of our devices is taking its toll on the environment.
The paradox: the more we ‘dematerialise’, the more materials we use. And the more miniaturised and complex the components, the heavier their impact on the environment.
Mining leads to the destruction of ecosystems and multiple kinds of water, air and soil pollution. And the manufacture of certain devices also poses social and ethical problems: working conditions are sometimes appalling and the mining of rare minerals fuels armed conflicts at the expense of local populations.
All of us have a responsibility to make this manufacturing ecologically and socially sustainable! For this reason, it is best to wait until one’s phone no longer works, for example, before replacing it! And our wallets are not going to tell us otherwise…
If you absolutely have to buy a new device? These are the right habits to adopt:
- Give preference to devices with a good repairability and durability index that corresponds to your needs and uses.
- For your television set, opt for a reasonable screen size (< or = medium size, i.e. 45 inches). The larger the screen, the more power and resources it consumes. Did you know that television sets have the greatest environmental impact of all electronic devices?
50%
of people in France change their TV when their old one still works! The reason:
the constant encouragement to opt for more recent models.
Source : Arcom, PANORAMA, 2023.
A few resources for further reading :
- Find out everything you need to know about the reparability index:
- Infography: Metals resources that could be in short supply
- Infographic: How can you get smarter with your smartphone?