World Environment Day, held annually on 5 June, serves as a global platform of the United Nations for public outreach on pressing environmental issues. This year, the UN brings attention to the negotiation of a global treaty to end plastic pollution, which would cover the full life cycle of plastics and be legally binding. Digital devices and infrastructure are contributing to the problem, and they can be part of the solution.
On World Environment Day, the APC Environmental Sustainability Group invites all stakeholders to reflect on the impacts of digital technologies on the planet, and their role in contributing to collective action to end plastic pollution.
Reduce, reuse and recycle?
Since the 1970s, the plastics industry has lobbied heavily against regulations that would require the reduction of plastic production. Instead, the industry has lobbied for recycling programmes, despite evidence of economic and technical barriers. In recent years, investigations have revealed the extent of recycled material that ends up in landfills, oceans and ecosystems all over the world.
Even when plastic materials are recycled, there is increasing evidence of harm. For example, many newer plastic products have incorporated brominated flame retardants, which have toxic effects. These chemicals are used in electronics, textiles, furniture and construction materials, and do not break down easily. A recent study found brominated dioxins in toys that were made from recycled plastic electronic waste that contained the flame retardant.
The reduction and reuse of plastic materials requires shifting global perceptions and approaches to consumption, including our approaches to new technology. Digital technologies have a major impact on the demand for plastics. A single mobile phone is composed of more than 300 alloys and plastics, and there are increasingly more mobile phones than people in the world.
In 2022, the APC Environmental Sustainability Group produced a guide with resources to better understand the impacts of digital devices and the opportunities of circular economies. “Reduce, reuse, recycle: A guide to circular economies of digital devices” offers stories, case studies and experiences from APC members, partners and allies working to contribute to circular practices for social and environmental justice.
Towards a circular economy for social and environmental justice
The concept of a circular economy comes from the perspective of reducing waste through more sustainable and resilient systems of production and consumption. More recent scholarship, including among the APC network, includes an emphasis on circular approaches that interrogate and resist extractivism, in all its forms.
Extractivism can be understood in terms of the large-scale extraction of resources and raw materials from a territory, causing long-term harm to the ecosystem and communities that live there. The rapid expansion of digital infrastructure in recent years has resulted in the large-scale extraction of lithium, cobalt, and many other materials from communities that are struggling to defend their rights, including their right to a healthy environment.
Data-driven advocacy and collective action
A shift towards a circular economy that ends plastic pollution requires shifts in our perspectives and approaches to consumption and consumer products. For digital technologies, shifting perspectives around ownership and the life cycle of devices have led to increasing demands for repairability and affordability.
The eReuse.org initiative, first launched in 2015 by Pangea, is dedicated to the transition to collaborative and circular consumption of electronics. Public datasets produced by the community involved in eReuse.org demonstrate significant extension of the life span of devices over time.
Data-driven advocacy is increasingly being used to counter political inaction and bring attention to the scale of social and environmental injustice. Connectivity initiatives that centre the needs of communities, such as the Local Network Initiative (LocNet) led by APC and Rhizomatica, have been able to support the participatory exploration and development of environmental sensors to monitor air and water pollution. These sensors can be used to empower local voices in their efforts to detect and document violations of socio-environmental rights, and hold governments and corporate actors accountable for harm.
In the context of calls to end plastics pollution, the UN Environmental Programme (UNEP) recently highlighted stories from Nigeria, where the city of Lagos took action to ban single-use plastics after a first-ever waste audit revealed that 34 kg of plastic waste per person per year had been leaking into Lagos’ water system.
Collective action to end plastic pollution requires closer attention to the role and impacts of digitalisation, in terms of both advocacy and implementation. A legally binding instrument to end plastic pollution needs interconnected commitments to shifting production and consumption for social and environmental justice.
Cover image credit: The world map made out of e-waste by Digital Empowerment Foundation (DEF)