Unplugged: The Environmental Detriment of Bluetooth Headphones

Bluetooth headphones are essential and addictive, you might even be using a pair now. Following Covid-19 pandemic headphones have become vital for work, while also being essential tools for personal privacy, in work, entertainment or fitness activities. These varied applications have made them indispensable in modern life, influencing work, leisure and well-being. Headphones can therefore be linked to the capitalist obsession with enhanced productivity and the modern desire for escape. Widespread headphone use has also garnered cultural significance with subcultures like hip-hop, making Bluetooth headphones fashion accessories and status symbols, which have established a thriving market for affordable and luxury models. This surge in popularity has made headphones the core of an industry characterized by rapid innovation.

Headphones rely on two key components: Bluetooth connectivity that utilizes high-frequency electromagnetic radio waves to wirelessly transmit music, while lithium-ion batteries enable wireless mobility. However, the broad market means infinite variations with different functions. Virtual assistants and noise-cancelling headphones are used for privacy and productivity, while high-end metals may make headphones more fashionable. As we can see, there are now more iterations of headphones with differing features than consumers would realistically need.

Bluetooth headphones became mainstream and replaced wired headphones with the popularisation of  Apple AirPods. While we are quick to herald the latest innovations in technology, what is often overlooked is the disruptive obsolescence that follows it. Apple AirPods’ widespread adoption was driven by Apple’s revocation of support for wired headphones, indicating forced obsolescence by technology manufacturers. This contributes to a cycle of pollution centred around headphones that we, as paying consumers, have become complicit in.

This article explores how Bluetooth headphones serve as a central example of how technology in a capitalistic system lends itself to creating exponential pollution and requires significant policy intervention on a global scale. We first explore how the materials used in headphone production, particularly plastics and lithium-ion batteries, lead to exponential pollution. We then look into how the global processes of mining and manufacturing headphones also contribute to the exponential pollution in developing regions. We then delve into potential solutions that consumers and manufacturers can use to create positive change.

E-Waste 

As we embrace the convenience of technologies like wireless earbuds, it’s crucial to consider their environmental implications. A compelling example of the broader issue of e-waste is the Agbogbloshie dumpsite in Ghana, where approximately 250,000 tons of sorted electronic waste are dumped annually, much of it from Western countries. This situation escalated after initiatives like Ghana’s 2004 “One Laptop Per Child” policy aimed to bridge the digital divide with affordable used electronics. The lifecycle of products like wireless earbuds, often discarded due to non-replaceable batteries and planned obsolescence, contributes significantly to such e-waste challenges.

This relentless influx of e-waste is vividly exemplified by the staggering 300 to 600 shipping containers of electronics that arrive in Ghana each month, leading to severe environmental contamination. At Agbogbloshie, the impact on the local environment is dire, with various toxic substances contaminating air, soil, dust, water, and human contamination. Notably, chicken eggs from the area have recorded the highest levels of brominated dioxins and the second-highest levels of chlorinated dioxins ever reported. The consumption of just one such egg could exceed the European Food Safety Authority’s tolerable daily intake for chlorinated dioxins by 220-fold, underlining the critical human health implications of such pollution. As these devices end up in landfills within just a few years of use, they pose a substantial environmental risk, mirroring the issues seen at Agbogbloshie.

Unfortunately, the cycle at Agbogbloshie, where approximately 40,000 people live and work, continues unabated, fuelled by poverty, economic incentives, and insufficient regulatory frameworks. The high levels of toxic exposure at the site pose severe health risks, including increased cases of cancer among the predominantly young workforce and residents. This threatens individual health and significantly diminishes the working-age population, undermining the community’s economic stability and growth potential.

Mining and Manufacturing

Lithium-ion batteries have been deemed so necessary for modern life that they were awarded the Nobel Chemistry Prize in 2019. They are rechargeable, have high energy efficiency and a longer life cycle than traditional rechargeable batteries. This makes them less costly and produces less waste than conventional rechargeable batteries. Furthermore, the main mineral needed, lithium, is accessible in large amounts under the surface across the globe. It is estimated that by 2040, it is expected that demand for lithium will grow more than 40 times if the world is to meet the requirements of the Paris Agreement. It is usually seen as an environmental good.

Many reserves known for producing the material are based in South America. Lithium is dissolved in salt flats, where water evaporates salt to separate the minerals. One mine in Bolivia uses 50,000 litres of water daily, creating environmental and social disasters due to the few resources left for local populations.

Lithium mining thus has a dark side, with low levels of regulation leading to environmental and labour rights abuses. This is particularly demonstrated in the Congo, home to lithium and large-scale cobalt mining (another key component to headphones). Congo’s cobalt resourcing is symptomatic of global supply chain demands with high rates of child labour, worker deaths and water pollution. Artisanal miners face challenging conditions, excavating trenches by hand to satisfy the demand of supplying 60% of the world’s cobalt.

But the problems don’t stop there. Manufacturing hubs in China subscribe to the same malpractices and abuse of labourers, factories overworking their employees with little reward. Upon reception of the raw materials from Congo, the central tenet of increasing supply with increased demand pervades, leading to violation of labour rights throughout the production scheme.

Environmental repercussions of the lithium-cobalt industry are just as bleak. Natural resource extraction and exploitation produce obvious pollutants, the transformation from mineral to product deteriorates the atmosphere. Meanwhile, whilst China’s eco-standards deteriorate at the hands of this technology, the West enjoys the luxuries of their capital gain. This precipitates the North-South divide, as Wallerstein’s World Systems Analysis describes.

With these developing nations now financially dependent on the industry, Congo’s provision of cobalt and lithium has become its economic backbone, as it must continue to perform, in turn jeopardising the well-being of its peoples. Environmental damage is then a by-product of this calamitous cycle in which nations are cemented in a state of periphery, whilst core states such as the US benefit from the neoliberal capitalist regime.

Solutions

A straightforward solution to the environmental impacts of Bluetooth headphones could be to educate consumers on how these products are created, their environmental impact, and how best to care for them. This could help to prevent the growing throw-away culture and increase the longevity of devices. However, this is unlikely with the power of MNCs and the social media culture of the products.

There are three main polluters in production – plastic, cobalt and lithium.

Most people are aware of the dangers of plastic, and widespread recycling is a feature across the globe. However, recycling is limited in the number of electronic plastic products created. There are some existing rules on e-waste, such as the WEEE regulations, which aim to reduce the amount of e-waste incinerated or sent to landfills. However, these apply only to their domestic manufacturers and distributors in the EU and the UK. This means that the largest producers of Bluetooth headphones, Apple and Sony, are not subject to the regulations because they are American MNCs. 

The Basel Convention prevents the export of hazardous material, except when environmentally sound agreements can be created. This current agreement has failed in the case of Ghana’s ‘One Laptop Per Child’ policy, which creates dire environmental impacts for the receiving locality.

One possible solution for this increasing problem would be to expand existing recycling infrastructures, which is likely to be needed to cope with future environmental challenges and the continued use of plastic.

This could also be done by including Bluetooth headphone manufacturers. Some companies already offer trade-in schemes where disused or broken headphones may be recycled or sold, with the original owners receiving a discount on another digital item. One of the largest schemes is already run by Apple, however, it is not widely advertised.

Cobalt mining is another key polluter. This process should be subject to greater scrutiny from NGOs and governments alike to ensure it is subject to environmental and labour regulations. Some of these processes already exist under the guise of global environmental governance, yet their impact is limited due to the profitable nature of cobalt mining. Therefore, attention should be placed on manufacturers, who overwhelmingly benefit from this supply chain.

The mining of lithium creates similar challenges. Problems exist, especially for resources mined in Australia and sent abroad for pollutant-filled processing. Despite this, lithium mining is positive for the environment, increasing the life of the batteries and preventing more waste.

Of course, a final solution is to switch to the less environmentally harmful but ever-unfashionable wired headphones.

Cover image credit: Africanway, iStock