How Will Samsung Deal with The Recalled Note 7

Updated by Boey Wong / March 19, 2021 11:20

It has been 6 weeks since Samsung first time recalled Galaxy Note 7 smart phones. It also has been passed 3 weeks since the company completely stopped selling the phone worldwide. Samsung has released new guidance for Galaxy Note 7 users that they can bring the phone back to the retail location where it was purchased and get a refund or a different model. However, Samsung still did not find the exact reasons that caused the explosion of Galaxy Note 7 so far.

Samsung, a giant South Korean company, pointed out in the report that they initially believed it was caused by small errors during the process of manufacturing the batteries. But it is unclear whether this is the cause of all Galaxy Note 7 explosion events. The company declined to leave any comment on its ongoing investigation since then.

Samsung has lost 17 billion US dollars for the recalled Note 7 phones, but this is not the end of the story. How to deal with the 4.3 million recalled Galaxy Note 7 smart phones in a secure and environmentally friendly way becomes a pain in the neck. Greenpeace urged Samsung should not just discard all the recalled phones without taking the environment into consideration. They should prevent "environment disaster" from occurring.

Samsung has not announced how they will deal with these phones yet. They just claimed that the devices can not be repaired or reused."We have a plan for battery recycling in a clear and safe way." The company recently said to Motherboard – Vice Media's online magazine. But Samsung did not respond to the report on last Monday immediately. Greenpeace requires Samsung to seek a new way to recycle the large number of metals and rare elements from the mobile phones and make it public.

There are about 50 raw materials used in the production of Note 7 smart phone, but because of the low efficiency of current recycling methods, only 12 materials can be recycled. Greenpeace said that 4.3 million Note 7 handsets can produce more than 20 tons of cobalt, 1 ton of silver, 100 kilograms of palladium, according to German researchers at the international environment agency Oeko-Institute.

"These materials can be recycled, but if Samsung is not able to reuse them or use them for other purposes, it will eventually cause damage to the environment", the Environment Protection Organization wrote in a statement.

Although most of the metals are not necessarily toxic themselves, the extraction process can be harmful because mercury and cyanide are used in some mining operations. The mining technology used to obtain these metals may be destructive to the environment and very inefficient. The conclusion is from a report wrote by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers which estimates that the production of only one smart phone needs about 165 pounds of raw materials. Therefore, to destroy all of the Note 7 phones will result in a huge waste of valuable resources.

Samsung now has an opportunity to set an example for the whole industry. Recycle and make use of these precious metals and other valuable materials to avoid environmental disasters? Or simply throw them away? Jude Lee, a senior IT activist at Greenpeace East Asia said that "We are launching a global campaign that requests Samsung not to discard the phones, but to take good use of this opportunity to think thoroughly about the design and production of their products.

One of the main potential problems with the recycle work is the battery, which is glued to the device. The Wired magazine reported that the recyclers must be very careful to take off the battery that could explode from each device. They said the process required as much patience as operating a surgery. If the batteries can be removed properly, it can greatly simplify the recycle procedure and even maybe part of the mobile phones can be directly reused.

Elizabeth Jardim, a senior business activist in Greenpeace USA, said in a statement, "All electronics and smart phone manufacturers should learn from this and make the product easier to design, repair, recycle and reuse."

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