08-02-2017, 08:07 AM
Here's an interesting conundrum:
Mercury batteries have disappeared because of the toxicity of mercury (but totally ignored that it is used in fluorescent strip lighting and CFL's, and in mercury amalgam tooth fillings)
Lead-free solder and unleaded petrol because of the toxicity of lead (but what about car batteries?)
NiCd batteries on the way out or dead because of the toxicity of cadmium
But - many LED's are based on arsenic compounds (like gallium arsenide). And $30Bn worth of them were manufactured in 2016. And yet there is hardly any information out there about the toxic burden that will end up in landfill.
Global production of arsenic is dominated by China (75% of global output), and is currently about 40,000 tons per annum globally, the majority of that ending up in LED's and high speed analogue IC's based on GaAs, and hence found in every mobile phone. Given the global love of technology, all that ends up in landfills. Yet there seems to be no consideration of the long-term implications of that. Or at least noone is owning up to it publically, yet.
Mercury batteries have disappeared because of the toxicity of mercury (but totally ignored that it is used in fluorescent strip lighting and CFL's, and in mercury amalgam tooth fillings)
Lead-free solder and unleaded petrol because of the toxicity of lead (but what about car batteries?)
NiCd batteries on the way out or dead because of the toxicity of cadmium
But - many LED's are based on arsenic compounds (like gallium arsenide). And $30Bn worth of them were manufactured in 2016. And yet there is hardly any information out there about the toxic burden that will end up in landfill.
Global production of arsenic is dominated by China (75% of global output), and is currently about 40,000 tons per annum globally, the majority of that ending up in LED's and high speed analogue IC's based on GaAs, and hence found in every mobile phone. Given the global love of technology, all that ends up in landfills. Yet there seems to be no consideration of the long-term implications of that. Or at least noone is owning up to it publically, yet.
