What’s the context?
Humane’s Ai Pin and other AI wearables are difficult to recycle, threatening to worsen the world’s global e-waste problem.
This article is a bit of a mess. What the fuck does AI have to do with the amount of glue used in a device?
And why focus on a limited run from a failed product rather than the literal millions of successful wearable products like airpods that are equally hard to recycle?
Also
Meanwhile, the use of the technology is only expected to grow.
Very insightful
Oh and not to question the professor’s expertise but you can’t blame the consumers for this one. Literally NOBODY asked for one of these pins.
“These products are designed based on the consumers’ desires and affordability,” said Berrin Tansel, professor of civil and environmental engineering at Florida International University.
Making them easier to recycle would require the cost of the material recovery process to be fronted by the manufacturer, making them more expensive, Tansel told Context.
When I was a kid, I remember my parents frequently taking electronics for repair. Our old VHS and Television had been repaired 7 times over and lasted years.
It really does grip me that every tech device made these days which relies on a battery is near impossible to self service. For years I built PC’s for people so not unfamiliar with components but I can’t change a battery on Samsung / iPhone or change the battery in my £300 Sony Bluetooth ear buds.
The problem is everywhere not just tech as such. Recently my kettle element gave up the ghost. No problem I thought, I can pick up an element for a few quid and change it.
Kitchen Aid however have decided to internally solder their elements so once that’s gone, throw it. £250 kettle with literally not a blemish on it, in the bin because a component that costs all of about 50p to manufacture is no longer replaceable.
I find it so egregious and wasteful…… I do look as far as possible at repairability before buying anything these days but alas, it’s a bloody uphill struggle and as other have said, with so much crap also being manufactured we’re in a pretty sad state which is only going to get worse :(
