Click on the individual stages in the information graphic on the left to learn more about the ecological and social risks when purchasing electronics.

Many different raw materials are needed to manufacture electronic goods and household appliances, including plastics for casings which often also contain processed forms of bauxite and iron ore, i.e. aluminium and steel. Large quantities of copper are needed for wires to conduct electricity. Extracting these and other raw materials involves numerous environmental, social and human rights risks. Examples include:

Environmental risks

• Waste, toxins and other residues that contaminate the air, soil and water 
• Release of radioactive substances during the extraction of rare earths
• Greenhouse gas and sulphur dioxide emissions 
• High energy consumption
• High water consumption
• Risk of dam or dike failures allowing contaminated sludge to flood the surrounding areas
• Loss of land, increasing deforestation and blasting of mountains
• Negative impacts on biodiversity

Social risks

• Funding conflicts/armed groups through minerals extraction and trading (conflict minerals)
• Displacement of people from their homes, cropland and pastureland
• Noise and vibration from industrial plant operations and dust dispersion due to intensive use of heavy-duty vehicles
• Corruption and tax evasion
• Violent suppression of protests
• Human trafficking, forced labour and child labour
• Violation of the right to free assembly and the right to collective bargaining
• Lack of workplace accident protection and insufficient safety standards  

Furterh reading (in German)

• AK Rohstoffe (2020): 12 Argumente für eine Rohstoffwende
• PowerShift (2017): Ressourcenfluch 4.0: Die sozialen und ökologischen Auswirkungen von Industrie 4.0 auf den Rohstoffsektor

Metals are made from ores, plastic from crude oil: Stage two of the value chain processes raw materials, turning metals, plastics and other components into so-called ‘intermediate goods’ and ‘semi-finished products’. This includes cables, circuit boards or processors. Substances that are harmful to health are used in many stages of processing, including carcinogenic solvents like benzene or heavy metals like cadmium or lead. The semi-conductor industry in particular uses between 500 and 1,000 different chemicals, many of which are highly noxious.

Further processing frequently also gives rise to environmental and social risks. Examples include:

Environmental risks

• Waste, toxins and other residues that contaminate the air, soil and water
• Greenhouse gas and sulphur dioxide emissions 
• High energy consumption
• High water consumption

Social risks

• Displacement of people from their homes, cropland and pastureland
• Noise and vibration from industrial plant operations and dust dispersion due to intensive use of heavy-duty vehicles
• Corruption or tax evasion
• Violation of the right to free assembly and the right to collective bargaining
• Underpaid workers
• Lack of workplace accident protection and insufficient safety standards  
• Negative health impacts due to use of noxious substances

Further reading (in German)

• Electronics Watch (2014): Winds of Change. Das Potenzial der öffentlichen Beschaffung, die Arbeitsbedingungen in der IKT-Industrie zu verbessern
• Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung (2019): Plastikatlas
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The manufacturers of electronic goods and household appliances profit from outsourcing production. In keeping with the logic of ‘downward competition’, production often takes place where human rights and social and environmental standards are at their lowest. While big companies in industrialised countries get the lion’s share of the profit, appliance assembly is mostly left to low-wage countries. So-called ‘flexible on-demand production’ forms part of a business model that fosters the abuse of what are already low environmental and social requirements. For example, inhaling toxic fumes when using the organic solvent toluene can result in miscarriages, damage the human nervous system and trigger respiratory ailments.

Other examples of negative production impacts include:

Environmental risks

• High energy consumption
• High materials consumption
• High levels of water consumption and land use
• Inadequate treatment of wastewater
• Generation of hazardous and non-hazardous waste
• Toxins and other residues, including dust-particle formation, that contaminate the air, soil and water

Social risks

• Violation of the right to free assembly and the right to collective bargaining
• Workers are underpaid and have short-term contracts; temporary employment; virtually no leave entitlements; extended working hours (up to 80h a week); unpaid overtime
• Child and forced labour as well as ‘debt slavery’ of migrant workers
• Lack of safety standards
• Adverse health effects due to lack of lighting and air conditioning or lack of ventilation in the production areas
• Adverse health effects due to contact with toxic chemicals
• Fatigue and strain due to monotonous assembly line work in a static posture
• Environmental and social standards are not monitored consistently or companies actively block such activities

Further reading

• China Labour Watch (2021): various reports available at http://www.chinalaborwatch.org/reports
• Südostasien. Zeitschrift für Politik – Kultur – Dialog (2019): Toxische Zustände in der Elektronikindustrie (in German)

The production of electronic goods and household appliances accounts for the largest proportion of energy and resource consumption. But their usage is also energy intensive. In spite of efforts to make individual appliances more energy efficient, this trend is an upward one – simply because more and more appliances are being produced. The EU energy label and the German Blue Angel ecolabel can point the way forward for energy efficiency.

Carbon footprints can be minimised during product service life, essentially by sourcing green electricity and ensuring the equipment is used for as many years as possible. Thus, at the procurement stage already, it is crucial to factor in the appliance’s capacity for repair and its guaranteed eligibility for software updates over a number of years to ensure that functional items are not prematurely sold or discarded. Also, when procuring appliances, it is important not to buy any unnecessary add-ons, as these are most likely already on hand.

Numerous negative environmental and social impacts occur during usage, including:

Environmental risks

• Energy consumption 
• Resource consumption, especially from excessive packaging materials and the unsolicited supply of battery chargers and adapters etc.
• Resource wastage due to the premature sale or disposal – rather than repair – of electronic goods and household appliances

Social risk

• Data protection

Further Reading (in German)

• Umweltbundesamt/Expertengruppe Ressourceneffizienz in der IKT (Green-IT) (2021): Nachhaltige Beschaffung und Nutzungsdauerverlängerung von IKT
• Umweltbundesamt (2017): Strategien gegen Obsoleszenz. Sicherung einer Produktmindest­lebensdauer sowie Verbesserung der Produktnutzungsdauer und der Verbraucherinformation
• Verbraucherzentrale (2023): Energie-Labels: eine Übersicht

Waste from electric and electronic appliances constitutes one of the fastest growing streams of waste in the world. And yet recycling quotas are extremely low. For example, large quantities of European electrowaste are dismantled in the West African states of Ghana and Nigeria under sub-standard environmental and social conditions, At the same time, terms such as ‘urban mining’ and ‘anthropogenic stock’ underscore recycling’s potential, especially for the recovery of metals. To date, the focus has mainly been on economically motivated recycling approaches. However, we need to  develop a holistic approach that prioritises environmental and social aspects along the lines of a circular economy. In this context, design4recycling is of enormous importance: that is to say, product development must already stress the item’s repairability and recycling capacity.
At the same time, collection quotas need to be increased. Awareness-raising work and information campaigns, which can also be promoted as part of ‘education for sustainable development’ have a key role to play here. In addition to the recycling depots that municipalities are obliged to operate, they could, in many places, also set up readily accessible ‘electrowaste containers’ or operate ‘hazardous waste mobiles’. Furthermore, they could support community repair workbenches and independent repair workshops.

Environmental risks

• Emissions and contamination from waste incineration and the disposal of non-recyclable parts and packaging materials in landfills
• Environmental hazards due to the incorrect disposal of lead-acid batteries
• Permanent loss of plastics and metals, including rare earths, as a result of inadequate recycling
• High energy consumption involved in the recycling process
• Export of old appliances from Europe to Africa where toxins are released into the environment as devices are burned to recover metals
• Inappropriate disposal of products containing mercury, cadmium, chrome, perfluorinated hydrocarbons (PFCs) and other noxious agents, pollutes the air, soil and water

Social risks

• In African states, child labour is used to dismantle old devices
• Health is endangered by the burning of cable sheaths and plastic casings, resulting in the release and inhalation of carcinogenic toxins 

Further reading (in German)

• Umweltbundesamt (2020): Elektroaltgeräte
• WEED e.V. (2020): Elektroschrott vermeiden. Handlungsoptionen für VerbraucherInnen

Iron ore extraction in Brazil, bauxite mining in Guinea, copper from Peru; production in Hungary, Mexico and China. This is what a supply chain for electronic goods and household appliances might look like. Getting from raw materials extraction to the finished product generally entails long transport distances by ship, truck and train. Fuel consumption and emissions negatively impact the environment and stress the climate in a way that is also harmful to human health. Transport with heavy-duty vehicles such as trucks is regulated by the Euro 6 emissions standard (Commission Regulation EU/582/2011), and procurers should demand compliance from hauliers.