Greenpeace calls for eco-friendly disposal of Galaxy Note 7
By Choi Ha-young
Concerned about the environment, Greenpeace has urged Samsung Electronics to recycle valuable components of Galaxy Note 7 smartphones, which will be discarded due to a battery defect.
The international environmentalist group started its “Save the Galaxy” campaign, Tuesday, calling for Samsung to put its innovative technology toward finding eco-friendly methods of disposal.
Samsung Electronics said last month it would permanently end production of the model after repeated explosions following its August release. The company, however, has not officially revealed how it would deal with the returned goods, only saying it will not refurbish the devices.
In 1995, Samsung incinerated 150,000 of its then-flagship Anycall phones in open air, over minor defects.
“If Samsung decides in favor of resources recycling, it would regain customers’ trust,” Jude Lee, senior IT campaigner of Greenpeace East Asia, said.
Samsung produced 4.3 million Galaxy Note 7 smartphones. According to Greenpeace, the machines weigh 730 tons without the problematic batteries.
According to OEKO-Institut, a Germany-based environmental research organization, the total volume of Note 7s includes: more than 20 tons of cobalt, 1 ton of tungsten, several kilograms of tantalum, 20 to 60 kilograms of palladium, 100 kilograms of gold and more than 1 ton of silver.
Additionally, producing the materials involves environmental destruction caused by mining ore and fossil fuels. Particularly in gold mining, toxic chemicals including cyanide and mercury are needed, according to a U.N. Environment Program report in 2013.
Greenpeace suggested smartphone makers adopt eco-friendly designs and practices from the beginning of production to facilitate recycling. It pointed out that such manufacturers do not recycle much. The recycling rate of mobile phones is under 20 percent globally, while it is a mere 4 percent in Korea.
“The way of making electronics products should evolve, considering the enormous amount of resources used,” Lee said. If 95 percent of mobile phones are reused, she added, the industry can save 1 billion euros ($1.09 billion) on raw material costs.
The signatures collected through greenpeace.org/korea/savethegalaxy will be delivered to the company’s CEO Kwon Oh-hyun.