Fragile digital products, durable waste
Gerry McGovern
Developer of Top Tasks research method. Author of World Wide Waste: How digital is killing the planet and what to do about it.
Today, we make fragile electronic products and durable waste. Digital is inherently unstable. It is not something suited to extremely hot weather, for example. The materials that are used to make digital products are extremely durable, though. The plastics and the chemicals will live on in the environment for hundreds and thousands of years.
Plastic basically never disappears. Instead, it breaks down into smaller and smaller particles, so small and airborne that plastic is now in our lungs, blood, brains. Everywhere, in every single place on Earth, from the depths of the Mariana Trench to the tips of Mount Everest, you will find plastic. Plastic has been used more and more to make digital products.
When you think of Silicon Valley you don’t think of toxic dumps. You should. Silicon Valley is toxic dump central because of its history of manufacturing electronics. Trichloroethylene (TCE) is one of the waste chemicals Silicon Valley must deal with.
TCE “exists only as a consequence of industrial techno-scientific manufacturing,” materials scientist Josh Lepawsky states. “It is produced for use as a commodity, typically as a solvent and cleaning agent. It is also the main contaminant in a plume of ground water seeping through part of what is today called ‘Silicon Valley’.”
TCE is the classic story of industrial chemicals. Found to be very useful in industry, by 1916 it was identified as a toxicant that poisoned herd animals, and by 1975 it was known to be carcinogenic. “TCE exists in a chemical galaxy comprised of well over 160 million chemical substances available for industrial use, less than one percent of which have been tested for toxicity,” Josh states. “Indeed, the number of chemicals already available for industrial use exceeds all toxic testing capacity on Earth.”
“Middlefield-Ellis-Whisman (MEW) is an area where three of the giants of Silicon Valley put down their roots,” Josh writes. “As Fairchild Semiconductors, Intel, and Raytheon grew, they would emit a range of volatile organic compounds (including TCE) into the local soil and water of the MEW.” Before the age of those pesky environmental regulations, semiconductor companies routinely poured acids and solvents into storm drains and sewers. Not surprisingly, the acids ate through the pipes and the solvents happily flowed through the holes. What did surprise some (though not others) was that these volatile organic compounds did not simply pollute the water and soil. Some vaporized, causing ongoing problems for workers (including those from Google) and residents.
Research indicates that it will take 700 years before 90% of the ground water pollution in the MEW area reaches ‘acceptable’ levels. Not zero. 700 years to get to an acceptable level of pollution.
While the chemicals and the plastics live on, digital products break easily and are harder, more expensive, and often impossible to repair. “The modern digital architecture is so advanced that systems beyond point of impact are being disrupted,” said Ryan Mandell, director of a claims performance company. “Getting a car back to pre-loss condition is harder than at any point in history, and will only become more challenging.”
Modern cars, with all their digital luxuries, have become so heavy, complex and fragile, that seemingly simple repairs can cost huge money. In the US, the average cost of car repair has risen by an astonishing 36% since 2018. Modern cars are also less reliable.
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