Repurposing Cellphones
I mentioned earlier this month that I will be involved in another project this summer, now I have a little more details.
Reference: Breaking the Disposable Technology Paradigm. Also see the incredible amount of human waste.
The problem
- Advances in computation + dependence on technology => increase consumption on computation devices
- Disposable technology paradigm: expected short usage lifetime => increase in waste. In particular, cellphone waste where consumers replace their cellphones every 17.5 month
- Old cellphones are being deposited in landfills or kept around with no alternative use
The cause?
Questions
- Why did you get your current phone?
- Why did you choose this particular phone? Size? Functionality? Aesthetics?
- What do you do with your old phones?
- Companies offer free cellphones with contract renewal
- Increasing expectation of existing phones in light of new models
- Diminishing battery life (cheaper to get a new phone than to replace the battery); durability
- Perceived lifetime of a phone is independent from its functional lifetime
The challenge
- Recycling old phones is an inconvenience
- People don’t know about organizations out there that take old cell phones
- Although people save old phones because of its potential to benefit another user, people don’t necessarily want the old phone
The solution?
- Reform contract structure and incentive programs
- Mobile phone interfaces that encourage sustainable use
- Novel ways to reuse old cellphones to decrease the need for new devices
- Make phones with biodegradable material
- Make it easy for consumers to recycle their old phones
Ideas
- Indicate the user’s ownership of the phone in comparison to the phone’s expected functional lifetime
- Create a market place for phones to trade ownerhsip
- Old cellphones as a personalized gift; branded as a photo collection, mixed tape, etc
- Increase awareness of recycling options and locations by convenient means, e.g. through the phone itself
- Modifiable outer designs without changing the internal hardware
- Repurpose phones as entertainment devices in clinics and hospitals, pagers in restaurants
Rethinking the Ordinary — Links
Comments
Phyliss (August 6th, 2009, 9:02 pm):
Hey Veronica! Just catching up on blog readings :) I *still* don’t know wha to do with old phones. I think if they’re still functional, most people keep them around for backup. I know people who own like 7 phones and actually use them all because they’re too lazy to recharge batteries. -_-”…Anyways I’ve heard that you can donate them to some charity organizations if they still work and they hand them out to women who can’t afford a phone because you can still use them for emergency calls. I’ll try and find a link for that, but that’s the only place I know to send old phones. Broken ones usually go in the garbage…or become useful paper weights as do many other electronics. I find most also make good dust collectors if you’re into that! ^_^ Anyways keep posting! I like hearing about all the interesting projects you get to work on!
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May 29th, 2009
8:20 pm
Filed under 'New Projects, School'
