Cleaner and Responsible Consumption 1 (2020) 100005

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Cleaner and Responsible Consumption

journal homepage: www.journals.elsevier.com/cleaner-and-responsible-consumption

Implications of the pandemic-induced electronic equipment demand surge

on essential technology metals
Derrick Ethelbhert C. Yu a, *, Krista Danielle S. Yu b, Raymond R. Tan c
a
Chemistry Department, De La Salle University, 2401 Taft Ave, Manila, Philippines
b
School of Economics, De La Salle University, 2401 Taft Ave, Manila, Philippines
c
Chemical Engineering Department, De La Salle University, 2401 Taft Ave, Manila, Philippines

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: The COVID-19 pandemic and the ensuing lockdowns has drastically altered modern life. Increased use of tele-
COVID-19 commuting for work, education, and leisure has led to a surge in demand for electronic products, which has
Supply chains strained both global manufacturing supply chains and upstream mineral stocks and resources. In this paper, we
Technology metals
discuss a prospective research and policy agenda that covers the technological, socio-economic, and regulatory
Resource depletion
Electronic waste
aspects needed for an accelerated transition towards enhanced mineral resource efficiency and improved elec-
Planned obsolescence tronic waste management during the pandemic and its aftermath.
Extended producer responsibility

1. Introduction which require electronic equipment has resulted in the personal

computing devices (PCD) industry experiencing 11.2% year-on-year
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought unprecedented and abrupt growth in the sales of desktops, laptops and other related devices in
changes into human society. The world’s economic activity slowed the second quarter of 2020 (International Data Corporation, 2020),
dramatically in March 2020, when the majority of the global population despite the negative growth that most economies experienced in the
began to quarantine as the virus spread. The impacts of the lockdowns same period. The gaming industry also enjoyed significant growth, as
rippled across national borders through global supply chains, causing console sales increased by 155% (Dring, 2020). The PC gaming hardware
economic effects that are now just beginning to manifest in official sta- market is seen to experience a 10.3% growth, with bulk of the growth
tistics (Yu and Aviso, 2020). The COVID-19 pandemic has also acceler- attributable to high-end hardware spending as gamers upgrade their
ated the shift to telecommuting and online learning. This shift has led to a systems during the quarantine period (Pollak, 2020).
reduction in emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs) and air pollutants; The extraordinarily high demand in PCDs due to the COVID-19
while many critics argue that the reduction is a transient effect, Chiu pandemic has forced manufacturers to increase production. However,
et al. (2020) suggest that the disruption can act as a catalyst towards pandemic-related lockdowns resulted in supply chain disruptions that
more sustainable lifestyles even in the post-pandemic world. impacted the production and inventory of PCDs. The impacts have been
On the other hand, adverse impacts on the use of finite mineral re- caused by a combination of downstream (e.g., retail outlet closures) and
sources has resulted from the surge in demand for electronic products mid-echelon (e.g., transportation and other logistical challenges) dis-
(including additional land and submarine internet infrastructures/ca- ruptions. Reduced workforce availability across entire supply chains has
bles) to support the increased level of online activity. The number of also exacerbated the problem (Santos, 2020). Factory closures or pro-
employees working from home was estimated to increase by 300 million duction turn-down has also resulted from shortages of components
(International Labour Organization, 2020) and around 1.3 billion stu- sourced from pandemic-stricken countries or regions. Raw materials
dents began online learning from home (Li and Lalani, 2020). Recrea- sourcing of metals has also been affected, as mining operations that
tional activities have also shifted towards digital activities, thereby provide for electronics production have also been partially or totally shut
requiring upgrades in electronic equipment such as televisions, monitors, down (Mining Review Africa, 2020). Manufacturers have thus been
game consoles, and other gadgets. The massive shift to online activities forced to temporarily rely on inventory which will eventually be used up.

* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: [email protected] (D.E.C. Yu).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clrc.2020.100005
Received 20 September 2020; Received in revised form 1 November 2020; Accepted 1 November 2020
2666-7843/© 2020 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-
nc-nd/4.0/).
D.E.C. Yu et al. Cleaner and Responsible Consumption 1 (2020) 100005

The current situation provides a clear preview of future difficulties that “essential technology metals” that require supply sustainability prioriti-
will occur as mineral resources are depleted. Research and innovation zation, both during the COVID-19 pandemic and afterwards.
will be needed to ensure sustainable resource use (Zeng et al., 2017).
Thus, it is timely to intensify research, innovation, and technical 3. Towards a research and policy agenda
cooperation on the waste recovery of the metallic raw materials to
augment the supply demand and logistical challenges caused by the Prior to the COVID-19 era, there was already a global problem on the
COVID-19 pandemic, as the requirement for new PCDs will continue to lack of recovery and recycling of essential technology metals (Zeng et al.,
increase in the foreseeable future. Accelerated commercialization of re- 2017). The problem has escalated due to increasing reliance on an
covery and recycling technologies that are nearing maturity will also be ever-advancing ecosystem of information technology, consequently
needed. In this paper, we discuss the prospective outlook on research and resulting in rapid turnover of outdated electronic equipment. Planned
development to capitalize on the Covid-19 pandemic as a stepping-stone obsolescence of consumer electronics has become an entrenched part of
towards greater sustainability in future electronic product life cycles. the business model of the industry (Satyro et al., 2018). Existing recovery
technologies for WEEE are adequate (Charles et al., 2020). However, the
2. Electronic products and mineral resources gaps in the pre-processing strategies for recovery need to be addressed
and intensified. As insufficient WEEE recovery becomes more magnified
A UN report indicated that only 17.4 percent of the 53.6 million tons by the current situation, efforts to intensify the recovery and recycling of
of the global waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) were essential technology metals must go beyond the consequences of the
collected and recycled, with a total recovery value of USD 57 billion in COVID-19 pandemic as workplace mobility becomes part of the new
2019 alone (Forti et al., 2020). The amount of generated WEEE has been normal, which are now apparent as large companies (Agence France
steadily increasing by around 3% annually (higher than the increase in Presse, 2020) and even countries with rigorous working environment
population) for the past years due to the rapid technology advancement like Japan (The Japan Times, 2020b) veer towards it.
that result in constant equipment upgrade, which is an intrinsic part of This pandemic is both a crisis in itself, and a preview of future crises
the business model of technology firms. The high demand for EEE due to as dwindling mineral resources cross paths with steadily rising demand.
the COVID-19 pandemic as well as the usual annual increase of global Hence, we advise the following measures and outlook to further intensify
WEEE are expected to result in a spike in WEEE in the near future. and expand the recovery efforts of essential technology metals:
Moreover, on the waste disposal front, the lockdowns and quarantines
imposed across various parts of the world has provided households the 1. Research, development, and innovation efforts should be intensified
opportunity to declutter by disposing of old and obsolete equipment, (Aldakhil et al., 2020). Allocation of funding for efforts to develop and
further increasing the amount of generated WEEE. For example, a waste commercialize for WEEE recovery should also be rationalized, using
treatment facility in Japan’s Hokkaido prefecture reported a 37 percent optimization techniques that account for both technological maturity
increase in monthly clients as a result of the lockdown (The Japan Times, and the network effects of technological interdependencies (Tan
2020a). et al., 2019).
Recently, Charles et al. (2020) reported a list of the 14 metals that 2. Countries can adopt a policy mindset that counts the recoverable
were detected from a representative sampling of common contemporary metals in WEEE as part of their own materials and economic re-
WEEE using X-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectroscopy. The XRF detection is sources. WEEE can be tapped as a source of increasingly scarce metals
indicative of substantial quantities of the metals found in WEEE. Based on through urban mining (Gidarakos and Akcil, 2020). In this way,
global data of the Royal Society of Chemistry (2020) derived from the governments can come up with beneficial economic policies as well as
British Geological Survey, these metals have high “Relative Supply Risk social programs that could rally on the civic mindfulness of its citizens
Index” as well as low recycling rate and crustal abundance (Table 1). Also to recycle WEEE.
listed in Table 1 is lithium, which is ubiquitous in WEEE as a battery 3. Manufacturers can indicate the content of essential metal components
component. Lithium also has a high relative supply risk index and low in EEE for fair valuation to encourage monetary-oriented disposal and
recycling rate. Thus, we propose these 15 metals to be classified as recycling of WEEE. Economic incentives can stimulate product take-
back and reverse logistics under an extended producer re-
sponsibility (EPR) framework (Zhao et al., 2020). This exercise may
Table 1 also result in the general awareness of the supply scarcity of essential
Supply risk data of “essential technology metals”. technology metals. It is also important to note that unlike other ma-
Metal Relative Supply Recycling Rate Crustal Abundance terials such as plastics and papers, the quality of recycled metals does
Risk (%) (ppm) not deteriorate.
Gold 5.7 >30 0.0013 4. Consumer reluctance to cooperate in proper WEEE disposal can
Silver 6.2 >30 0.055 hinder recovery and recycling efforts (Nowakowski, 2019). The cur-
Cobalt 7.6 >30 26.6 rent public consciousness regarding the value and privacy of data
Gallium 7.6 <10 16
Magnesium 7.1 10–30 28104
stored in EEE leads in the apprehension to dispose and recycle due to
Niobium 7.6 >30 8 potential data leakage because of the technological capability of
Ruthenium 7.6 >30 0.000037 retrieving deleted data. Manufacturers, governments and industry
Palladium 7.6 >30 0.000037 groups can set up protocols to ensure and guarantee permanent data
Iridium 7.6 >30 0.000037
deletion or inaccessibility of data in WEEE.
Yttrium 9.5 <10 0.3
Neodymium 9.5 <10 0.3 5. Social science aspects of WEEE recycling are critical. Insights can be
Antimony 9.0 <10 0.2 drawn from emerging areas such as behavioral economics to develop
Tantalum 7.1 <10 0.7 policies and measures to “nudge” consumer behavior towards more
Tungsten 9.5 10–30 1 sustainable trajectories (Thaler, 2020). Firms are generally in a po-
Lithium 6.7 <10 16
sition to implement choice architecture strategies to steer consumers
yRelative supply risk ¼ index ranges from 1 (very low risk) to 10 (very high risk). towards more sustainable choices (Chiu et al., 2020). For example,
This composite metric is calculated by combining scores for crustal abundance, producers can integrate WEEE recovery with product upgrades to
reserve distribution, production concentration, substitutability, recycling rate offset the adverse effects of planned obsolescence (Satyro et al.,
and political stability.
2018).
Source: Royal Society of Chemistry (2020).

2
D.E.C. Yu et al. Cleaner and Responsible Consumption 1 (2020) 100005

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