Print Email Facebook Twitter More disposable than ever? Consequences of non-removable batteries in mobile devices Title More disposable than ever? Consequences of non-removable batteries in mobile devices Author Bakker, C.A. Kuijer, L. Faculty Industrial Design Engineering Department Design Engineering Date 2014-11-17 Abstract Mobile devices like smart phones, tablet computers and ultraportable laptops are experiencing rapid worldwide market growth and have relatively short lifespans. Recently, embedded (non-removable) batteries were introduced that cannot be replaced by consumers. This study traces the environmental and social consequences of the introduction of embedded batteries throughout the value chain: from the original equipment manufacturers, to the users of mobile devices, to the repair, refurbishment and end-of-life recycling companies. It shows that the introduction of embedded batteries was mainly technology and design-driven, that original owners are hardly aware of embedded batteries (unless they seek to prolong the life of their phones), that embedded batteries have contributed to a thriving but mostly unauthorized repair and refurbishment market and finally that recyclers have difficulties removing the batteries. From a social and environmental sustainability perspective, reintroducing removable batteries is preferable, but the study shows this may not be feasible and examines alternative options. To reference this document use: http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:e2ea8361-29ab-44c7-b88e-0b380063f369 Publisher Austrian Society for Systems Engineering and Automation Source Proceedings of CARE Innovation 2014 “Going Green” Conference, Vienna, Austria, 17-20 November 2014 Part of collection Institutional Repository Document type conference paper Rights (c) 2014 The Author(s) Files PDF 313725.pdf 193.4 KB Close viewer /islandora/object/uuid:e2ea8361-29ab-44c7-b88e-0b380063f369/datastream/OBJ/view