Introduction
For my life cycle project i chose life cycle of an iPhone because this product is something that millions of people use everyday and millions throw away working ones every day.
Timeline
A cellphone is made of 62 rare metals and 50 of them are irreplaceable. These metals are sent to a factory in another country where they assemble the phone after the design has been created and approved. These materials being as rare as they are, are becoming less and less abundant. To assemble a phone they need to create the circuits, and put it into the shell of the phone, and then they need to assemble the the screen LCD is the one apple currently uses and the LCD is added to the phone.
Once the phone is designed and manufactured, they then have to make the phone box which is made of fiberboard and plastics which is also created. Fiberboard is a type of man made wood made from wood fibers. These boxes allows the phones to move from one place to another as well as all of the extra things inside
Once the phones are packaged up they are sent out to millions of stores all over the world which is where people go and acquire the phone. This is when millions of people get new phones and where the main portion of the phones life will be spent.
The Phone will be used for a decent amount of time until it starts to become slow and struggles to do the most basic tasks. And this is when the phone gets thrown away or recycled. Most people will throw them away because it is just easier. And throwing it away has very bad impacts on the environment because these phones contain heavy metals which are toxic for the environment when left untreated.
The Phone if its recycled will have the rare materials taking out to be used in another phone which will allow the salvageable parts to be taken out and the non salvageable things to be disposed of properly. But if they are thrown away this gives them a chance to pollute the environment where the heavy metals in there will start to leak out and while just one phone may not destroy the environment electronic waste makes up 70% of the trash in landfills.
Sources:
http://gizmodo.com/the-metals-in-your-phone-arent-just-rare-theyre-irre-1477904295
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiberboard
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2010/11/what-happens-your-phone-when-you-recycle-it/
http://gizmodo.com/the-metals-in-your-phone-arent-just-rare-theyre-irre-1477904295
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiberboard
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2010/11/what-happens-your-phone-when-you-recycle-it/
Conclusion Questions
1. A products life cycle is the progress of the product from it being created to when it was no longer being used.
2. Because if the products life cycle is long then the company can advertise it as a long lasting product, but if its something people need in there everyday life but it doesn't last long it is a good strategy to get people to buy more.
3. I would definitely make it so the product lasts longer and if i ran the company i wouldn't release a new phone every year which makes people want to buy the new product and get rid of their old one even though it was still in perfect working condition.
4. Yes it will definitely evolve but i don't think it will the phone will ever become obsolete because it has become apart of almost everyone's daily life and most people can't live with out them.
5. A trade-off is a compromise
6. I definitely think at some point there where trade offs so that they can release the phone on time of they can keep the price of the phone down.
7. It is important to recycle so that the materials aren't wasted and sent into the environment.
8. The design it by making it with recyclable materials and making it easy to recycle.
9. Society decides how easy recycling is, like how close the closest recycling places are.
10. I can help by recycling my trash and phones and telling people who are getting a new phone where to recycle their phone.
2. Because if the products life cycle is long then the company can advertise it as a long lasting product, but if its something people need in there everyday life but it doesn't last long it is a good strategy to get people to buy more.
3. I would definitely make it so the product lasts longer and if i ran the company i wouldn't release a new phone every year which makes people want to buy the new product and get rid of their old one even though it was still in perfect working condition.
4. Yes it will definitely evolve but i don't think it will the phone will ever become obsolete because it has become apart of almost everyone's daily life and most people can't live with out them.
5. A trade-off is a compromise
6. I definitely think at some point there where trade offs so that they can release the phone on time of they can keep the price of the phone down.
7. It is important to recycle so that the materials aren't wasted and sent into the environment.
8. The design it by making it with recyclable materials and making it easy to recycle.
9. Society decides how easy recycling is, like how close the closest recycling places are.
10. I can help by recycling my trash and phones and telling people who are getting a new phone where to recycle their phone.