Abstract

CRUZ SOTELO, Samantha Eugenia et al. ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT WHEN THE LIFESPAN OF MOBILE PHONES IS EXTENDED. Rev. Int. Contam. Ambient [online]. 2017, vol.33, n.4, pp.701-712. ISSN 0188-4999.  https://doi.org/10.20937/rica.2017.33.04.13.

The mobile phone market has experienced continuous growth over the last decade. Increasingly, mobile phones are replaced by new models with more modern designs or expansion of functions. This lifestyle is causing increasing amount of electronic waste that do not always receive treatment. This article presents the results of the application of the methodology for life-cycle assessment (LCA) to calculate quantitatively the environmental benefit due to the extension of lifespan mobile phones during different periods of time. Taking as a functional unit the life cycle of an average mobile phone during 30 months and considering the stages of raw materials/production, distribution, use and end of life, three scenarios were modeled. The SimaPro (2013) software was used, the Ecoinvent database has been applied to configure the life cycle inventory, and the emissions were allocated into six categories according to the impact CML2000 method. It was observed that to extend the mobile phone useful life and to provide treatment when it becomes a waste, represents an environmental gain not only because the provision and consumption of a new one is avoided, but because limited resources and energy required for extraction are saved through recovery of materials. However, before recycling it is important to consider reuse (extending lifespan) because a substantial amount of the mobile phones are discarded for fashion or cosmetic reasons while they are still functional.

Keywords : life cycle assessment; scenarios; inventory; valorization.