Smart trade The latest smart devices make huge profits for the big electronics companies However the miners and factory workers who help produce these devices often work in unsafe conditions and are poorly paid Fair trade organizations are working together to make producing these products fair for all involved Everyone wants to use the latest laptops smartphones and tablets What are fair trade programs The demand for electronic smart devices is growing all the time Making these devices can provide much-needed work for many people especially in developing countries Fair trade programs are ways of making sure these workers are paid a fair price for their work Pressure from customers and fair trade organizations has created fair trade programs that are slowly working to improve the lives of workers and their families 4
Explore the issues Labeling gadgets This book explains where our electronic devices come from and explores some of the problems associated with making them These problems include poor or dangerous working conditions for workers and the environmental damage that manufacturing the products can cause The book looks at some solutions already in place explains why fair trade is important and discusses what you can do to help Fair trade food can be labeled to show its origins but with digital devices it is more difficult Each device may contain hundreds of parts that are produced and manufactured in many different countries Because of this it can be hard to keep track of where every piece is made and under what conditions Today more electronics companies are starting to take responsibility for their supply chain as a result of increased pressure from customers Canada USA Colombia Peru Bolivia Germany UK Afghanistan Russia China India Japan Laos Bangka Indonesia Kenya Thailand Democratic Republic of the Congo DRC Malaysia Australia Africa Burkina Faso Brazil Ghana South America South Africa This map shows the places mentioned in this book that are involved in fair trade projects 5
Smartphones Experts estimate there will be 6 1 billion smartphones in use around the world by the end of this decade China is the biggest market for smartphones 30 million were sold in just one month in 2012 India and the United States are not far behind Smartphones are expensive but many people still upgrade their model every 18 months to 2 years What is in a smartphone There are hundreds of different parts to a smartphone each made from a wide range of materials including copper in the wires gold in the circuit boards and over 40 different chemical elements All phones contain around 0 7 ounces 20 g of tin which is used to make the solder that holds the parts together The electronics industry uses almost half of all the tin mined today Phones are often seen as disposable In the U S alone about 140 million smart and mobile phones end up in landfill sites every year 6
Smartphones get their name because of the clever features they include such as a camera and Web browser and many of the functions of a computer Where are smartphones made Smartphones travel a long way to reach their customers and many different countries are involved in their production and assembly For example the Apple iPhone is designed in North America while the microchip controlling the phone’s graphics is designed by Imagination Technologies in the United Kingdom The gyroscope that lets you use a phone lengthwise or sideways comes from a French-Italian company The metals that are used to make an iPhone’s components may have been mined in Africa China or Indonesia Finally the phones are most often assembled in an Asian factory Eighty-five percent of iPhone 6 phones were assembled in China Reuse recycle A discarded smartphone takes 1,000 years to break down To be eco-friendly it’s best to keep the phone you already have and replace parts if they break Or if you really want to get rid of your old smartphone try recycling it find out about a program near you 7
