Final answer:
The environmental cost of manufacturing devices like cell phones includes increased electronic waste containing toxic chemicals, leading to pollution and health risks. Production processes can cause air pollution, habitat loss, and water contamination. Sustainable company practices and proper e-waste disposal are essential for reducing these impacts.
Step-by-step explanation:
The environmental cost of manufacturing complex devices such as cell phones, computers, and TVs includes increased electronic waste, also known as e-waste. This waste is problematic because it contains a plethora of toxic chemicals and precious metals, which when disposed of improperly, contribute to pollution and can be deleterious to human and ecological health. When electronic devices are not recycled or disposed of according to government safety guidelines, they may end up in landfills, risk contaminating soil, water, and the air.
Moreover, the creation of these devices often results in various forms of environmental degradation, such as air pollution from factories that produce the gadgets and the clearing of land for mining the materials that go into them, leading to habitat loss and biodiversity reduction. Industrialism and postindustrial production activities for electronic devices can contribute to global climate change through the emission of greenhouse gases and can also contaminate local water supplies with dangerous chemicals.
While the advancement in information and communications technology (ICT) holds the potential to reduce pollution and natural resource consumption by digitizing many services, the manufacturing and disposal phases of these devices still pose significant environmental challenges. One key aspect of reducing the environmental impact lies in consumers and governments choosing companies that focus on sustainable production and disposal methods, such as using solar power and electrically powered delivery trucks.