The true cost of Samsung

This video is sponsored by Curiosity Stream. If you’re anything like me, you probably start off your day by hitting the snooze button multiple times before finally dragging yourself over to your smart phone to spend your first waking minutes scrolling through social media.

We are conditioned to be drawn to our smart phones, and it’s hard to not constantly look atthem.95% of people who own smart phones use them daily. And in 2018, consumers bought 1.4 billion phones, with Samsung capturing the most smart phones sold at 291.3 million devices. Considering these massive sales numbers, there’s a surprising lack of conversation about smart phones and the environment. So today, I’m going to answer a simple question: what kind of impact do Samsung smart phone shave on the environment? If we look at the lifespan of a phone, there are really three distinct areas where the phone creates an environmental impact: manufacturing, use, and waste. But the environmental impact of the “use” phase of a Samsung phone can vary widely depending on what type of electricity grid you’re plugging into. As a result, today we’re only going to focus on the production and waste aspects of a Samsung phone’s life. So let’s start at the beginning.

The birth of a Samsung phone like their flagship Galaxy line begins with a number of extracted minerals like cobalt for the battery, tungsten for the vibration module, gold for the processor, and a host of other rare earth metals. Because gold and tungsten are primarily mined under terrible conditions in the Democratic Republic of Congo and sold and traded by armed forces within the country, these minerals are currently labeled as conflict minerals. And in the case of Samsung, Cobalt can also be grouped into this category.

The company has confirmed that they get their cobalt for batteries from mines in Congo but claim that they only work with mining companies that treat their workers ethically. On the environmental side, rare earth metals can have a huge impact. Each little bit of metal requires massive amounts of earth to be removed and sorted through. Both of which requires millions of tons of wastewater, extensive fossil fuel inputs, and unwanted toxic pollutants. But to be fair, most of Samsung’s competitors are also using a similar mix of metals in their phones.

So it’s also important to look at the sustainability commitments that Samsung has made in the last couple of years in order to truly understand how they approach their product’s relationship with the environment. Samsung has made at least some effort to create environmental initiatives surrounding the production of their phones.

For one, they work with a third party carbon reduction service called Carbon Trust, which helps companies minimize the carbon footprint of their products like the Galaxy smart phone across its whole lifecycle. As a result, Samsung has made progress in the realm of phone packaging with the newest Galaxy S10.Samsung claims that it’s sold in a 100% plastic free recycled paper box, and the phone has also received a Gold rating from the Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool, which looks at various environmental categories like energy use requirements and the use of sustainable materials.

On their website, Samsung has set a number of targets like reaching a cumulative reduction of 250 million tons of CO2 by 2020.But targets often are missed or can be stretched. According to a report by Greenpeace, in 2016, only 1% of Samsung’s energy came from renewable sources. This definitely pales in comparison to a company like Apple, which is now powering a 100% obits global operations with renewable energy. According to a survey of 3,500 phone owners across the globe, the average use period fore phone is 21 months. And now there are over 7 billion smart phones. Needless to say, smart phone waste will continue to be a problem long into the future if consumers, and more importantly, tech juggernauts like Samsung don’t get their act together. And Samsung has definitely had blunders when it comes to waste. The disastrous recall of Samsung’s Galaxy Note 7 is a perfect example. Back in 2016, Samsung released the top of the line Galaxy Note 7 that wowed reviewers until it started inexplicably exploding in people’s faces.

Part of the reason for this malfunction was that Samsung rushed the phone to market. As a result, Samsung had to recall 4.3 million recently sold Note 7 phones. Not only was the environmental cost of manufacturing all these phones massive, but also the possibility of reclaiming all of the rare earth metals and components from the phones was pretty low. So this explosive debacle left millions of Samsung phones sitting around, with little transparency from Samsung about the possibility of their future. At its core, a sustainable phone needs to be durable and easy to repair, something that Samsung has struggled with.

The Galaxy S8 Plus model was deemed the most breakable phone on the market by the International Business Times, and the recent $2000 Galaxy Fold phones have been reported to break within days of purchasing. In addition, the DIY repair website I Fix it placed Samsung’s newest Galaxy S10 model in the middle of the back in terms of repair ability citing the difficulty opening the phone because of a glued down screen, which ultimately makes it harder to replace the battery. In short, Samsung needs to focus on durability and repair ability if they are to seriously consider the environmental cost of their phones. If their phones start breaking only days after they make it to market like the Galaxy Fold, that could mean tons of squandered resources and emissions.

Ultimately, Samsung runs steadily in the middle of the pack when it comes to their environmental impact. They don’t offer nearly enough options for DIY repairs or refurbishing, and they haven’t sought out ambitious emissions targets like Apple, but they have made strides in other parts of their process like packaging or third party certifications. As we look toward the future, the smart phone is here to stay. So as consumers we need to be wary in our desire for new gadgets. Instead of placing that old phone in a drawer to collect dust, maybe consider giving it to a friend or someone in need. And when you’re finally ready to get another phone, think about whether you actually need that brand new edition, because you often can settle for an equally-good year-old phone. When it comes down to it, though, these are all ways to navigate an imperfect market. The reality is that smart phone companies like Samsung need to work hard to change their processes so it’s not only possible but also very easy to make the most environmentally conscious choice. If you’re exhausted of hearing my voice and are looking for some really great nature-related documentaries, I’d highly recommend checking out this video’s sponsor Curiosity Stream.

With over 2,400 documentaries and non-fiction titles spanning topics from artificial intelligence to plastic bag waste, it’s hard not to get lost in their library. One of my favorite documentaries I’ve watched on Curiosity Stream so far is a two-part series called Climate Change By the Numbers. In it, three mathematicians look at three important numbers in order to explain how we know climate change exists and where it’s going. It’s definitely worth a watch if you have the time So if want to watch that or want to access to thousands of top-tier documentaries, head over to Curiosity Stream using the link in the description below and plug the offer code OCC to get the first 31 days of your membership completely free. Hey everyone, Charlie here. This video, as always, was also made possible by my Patron supporters. They’re an awesome group of eco-minded folks that pitch in a little money each month to help this channel grow. Thank you so much for your support, and I’ll see you in two weeks!

                                                        

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