Sustainable Electronics
To buy or not to buy…when it comes to electronics, slavery and children’s lives
By Karen Mascarenhas, director, Mascarenhas PR Ltd
The late Vivienne Westwood wore a simple grey T-shirt saying: BUY LESS.
As we reflect at the end of 2023 with COP28 in Dubai in turmoil, the fashion industry that Westwood was commenting on is considered by many to be one of the most polluting in the world. Taking greenhouse gas emissions and water pollution into consideration, it ranks 3rd after fuel & energy and agriculture & food production.
However, we will not heed Westwood’s advice to buy less. Within the electronics industry itself, smartphone mobile sales alone are expected to rise internationally to a staggering $792.51 billion by 2029 whilst global computer sales are expected to rise to $449.02 billion in 2023. As 2024 approaches, the sobering news is needless loss of children’s lives – whether in global conflicts in Gaza, Ukraine, Syria, Yemen, Sudan or elsewhere. What has that to do with the electronics industry you may ask? This article highlights what we in this industry can do to minimise death rates and harm done to children in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) – a key source of tantalum for mobile phones and laptops.
The electronics industry and sourcing
The electronics industry sources four of its key precious metals – tantalum, tungsten, tin and gold (also known collectively as 3TG) – from some of the world’s poorest regions, for the semiconductor sector to supply electronics applications including mobiles, laptops, medical, automotive, defence, oil & gas. Globally, we are becoming ever more chip- dependant to survive.
These metals are largely sourced from areas of conflict (hence, they are sometimes referred to as ‘conflict minerals’) with the largest source of tantalum being the DRC. Conflict has been rife in this area for over a century with a rush to plunder the country’s natural resources by manufacturing nations. Recently, conflict has escalated with an estimated staggering loss of approximately 5.4 million lives, and
40 December/January 2024 Bagged and tagged conflict-free tantalum ore. Photo credit: The Enough Project
some two million people displaced – largely unreported! This has left a country in disarray where these minerals are mined often using ‘slave labour’.
Studies suggest that over 50 per cent of mining sites are controlled by militia, and children as young as four years of age are captured by these armed groups to mine for tantalum in the most appalling conditions. This element is then incorporated in our electronics: mobiles, laptops, cars, televisions etc. and has been on-going for years. (Please see CONGO: Blood, gold & mobiles phones, by The Guardian on YouTube). Alex Crawford, Sky News special correspondent, highlighted children as young as four years of age working in Congolese mines where cobalt is extracted for smartphones.
Components in Electronics
Within Apple’s ‘Conflict Mineral's Report 2022’ the company has claimed that they “continue to make progress”. “Nearly 20 per cent of all material used in Apple products in 2021 was recycled.” It is also claimed that “we continue to source 3TG and other minerals, such as cobalt and lithium, responsibly while working to improve conditions in and around mining communities including the DRC and adjoining countries”. Interestingly, “Apple does not directly purchase, procure or source primary minerals”. They state that their Supplier Code and Responsible Sourcing Standard requires suppliers, smelters, refiners and recyclers in their supply chain to identify and assess a broad range of risks.
Evidence published in GLOBAL WITNESS in 2022 indicates that companies, including
Apple and Samsung, may rely on a supply chain due diligence scheme that is used to launder conflict minerals from the DRC. GLOBAL WITNESS cites in one mining area up to 90 per cent of minerals did not come from mines validated for meeting security and human rights standards.
A report by CNBC says that major manufacturers aim to keep everything as simple as possible by outsourcing the due diligence to somebody else. Joanne Lebert, executive director at IMPACT, a non-profit organisation that works to improve how natural resources are managed where security and human rights are at risk, agrees. ITSCI, formed to achieve avoidance of conflict financing, human rights abuses or other risks such as bribery in mineral supply chains, trains government agents to verify, seal and tag bags of conflict-free minerals which helps conflict-free procurement by manufacturers.
Also in 2022, Electronics Watch reported significant workers’ rights and health & safety problems associated with working in mines where mine workers are forced to work from 6am to 6pm. In September 2022, Katalin Csatadi, a writer/ researcher at Ethical Consumer, stated that paramilitary groups, allegedly supported by neighbouring countries, fight for control of small-scale mines and this conflict results in millions of deaths, unspeakable hostility and widespread human suffering. Ironically, CNBC journalists Jeniece Pettitt and Katie Brigham in their report in February 2023 state that tin, tantalum, tungsten and gold found in most consumer electronics are mined in the DRC. It is estimated that this country contains $24 trillion untapped mineral resources but most tragically, “remains one of the poorest and most dangerous countries in the world”.
3TG
Coltan (short for columbite-tantalite) is a metal ore from which tantalum is extracted. It is used within the electronics industry for high reliability capacitors as well as gaming consoles, HD video and digital cameras. It is
www.cieonline.co.uk
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