Sustainability and new hardware

I want the new iPhone.  I also want the iPad.  Oh wait, I need to do something with my 3G.  I know I’m not pitching it in the garbage.  That’s ridiculous, I can easily sell it.  But I did throw away my first gen iPod when the hard drive crashed.  What about the old cell phones that are bigger than a Chipotle burrito?  Those can only be a kids toy for so long.  What’s the next move for the giant phones?  I could just as well donate them?

All of those scenarios are possibilities.  But while recently reading a passage from Emotionally Durable Design: Objects, Experiences and Empathy, it started to sink in that manufacturers and consumers might need to start addressing how many versions of phones, mp3 players, gaming consoles, cars, appliances and more that we need over a lifetime.

“Landfills around the globe swell with fully functional appliances – freezers that still freeze and toasters that still toast – their only crime being a failure to sustain empathy with their users.”

Unfortunatlely, everyone isn’t going to find a new use for an old piece of hardware or appliance.  By volume and population alone, think of how many items are thrown out?  Compound that with our appetite, myself included,  that when something is groundbreaking or extremely interesting you can’t keep the masses held back for too long.

After reading that sentence, it feels a bit akward to run out and grab a new device of any kind.  So what is the answer?  Where can we improve this situation.  Here are several questions that we should begin to address.  These are probably difficult to answer but could be worth exploring .  It will be interesting over the next few years to see how pressing this issue becomes and if there are innovative answers that come forward.

1. Is it possible to update shell’s and/or cases for phones?   Maybe even appliances?   Can we go beyond a software update for phones and develop an interchangeable body for larger physical changes?  For instance, with the new iPhone and the front facing camera, could there be a way to accommodate such a radical change with an older phone?  Financially and economically tough but there’s probably a solution out there.
2. Can we provide an incentive to not dump things just because it’s not the latest version?  Maybe financially. Or just make it beyond convenient to dispose of electronics that cuts the landfill out of the loop.
3. Is it possible to reinvent something rather than just put it to the curb?  Your guess is as good as mine.  However, used frying and vegetable oil has the capability to power vehicles.  What could the guts of a refrigerator be used for?

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