Around 130 million cell phones are discarded per year and just 8 % of them are recycled correctly. The rest of them are thrown in landfills or incinerators and heavy metals are thus leaked into water or air, leading to air or water pollution. Some states ban electronics from being dumped carelessly, but some do not impose such laws. So, it is better to have greener phones than imposing laws on improper disposal.
Apple’s iPhone 5 and iPhone 4S are ranked among the least toxic Smartphones according to analysis by iFixit and Healthystuff.org. Healthystuff.org laid 36 Smartphones to test, examining the chemical components of each part of the individual phones with X-ray flourescense spectrometry. Each phone had common toxic chemicals such as bromine, lead, mercury, chlorine etc. The phones were rated for their toxicity on a scale of 0 to 5.
Though all the phones contained hazardous toxics, iFixit said that all the new smartphones contained less hazardous material when compared to the previous models. Of all the phones analyzed, the iPhone 4 and 5 ranked the best, with fewer toxic materials by components and chemicals. The original iPhone qualified as high concern with a full rating of 5.0. However, each successive phone from Apple did appreciably better, with iPhone 3G scoring 3.91, iPhone 4 scoring 2.95. Apple iPhone 4S stands number two among all the smart phones tested with a rating of 2.69. The iPhone 5 had slightly higher score, 2.75 but still is a low concern. This analysis shows that Apple had taken significant strides to reduce hazardous materials from each successive iPhone iteration as a part of the promise it made to make “the most environmentally responsible products in our industry.”
The iPhone 5 will eventually be discarded. But the good news is that it does not leave us the horrible chemical burns. Though it is labeled as a low concern smart phone still it had small traces of lead, chlorine, bromide and mercury in the iPhone 5 construction, which migt pose risks if handset is broken or melted for scrap. However the iPhone is at least easier on the eco-friendly conscience than most of its peers.
Another good reason, apart from is excellent features, to buy iPhone 5 than the other phones.
To find regular updates on Apple Products Subscribe to Buzz2fone Mobile News Blog