Phonebloks: The smartphone for the rest of your life

What does 20 million tonnes of electronic waste look like? Well, it looks something like a large container train full of decaying technology stretched all the way around the world. Every year we dispose of at least that quantity of 'e-waste' and our phones are one of the biggest causes. The solution? Phonebloks -- the mobile phone you'll never need to throw away.

When electronics decide to give up it's usually just one component that's causing the problem. Enter Phonebloks: a fully customizable phone built from, you guessed it, blocks. Phone getting slow? Change the memory block. Like taking pictures? Update your camera. The blocks then attach easily to a base which connects them all together.

The designers at Phonebloks are not the only ones seeking a solution to the planet's growing e-waste problem. One of the zanier concepts by Daizi Zheng is a phone powered by a 'bio battery' that feeds on the sugars and enzymes in Coca Cola and it's supposed to last 3-4 times longer than a lithium battery.

What if you could buy a smartphone that would last you for the rest of your life?

This is the dream of Dutch designer Dave Hakkens, whose 'Phonebloks' concept has captured the public imagination and received celebrity endorsement from the most unexpected quarters.

Phonebloks is a radical cell phone idea that aims to dramatically reduce global electronic waste ('e-waste') by offering users the opportunity to upgrade parts -- or bloks -- of their cell phone rather than having to replace the entire device.

Hakkens says that he came up with Phonebloks as a response to the accelerating pace of technological waste: "I don't like the direction electronics are heading. They get more disposable and get a shorter life with every model. This gives a lot of e-waste."

 The environmental campaign organisation Greenpeace estimates that global e-waste now amounts to between 20 and 50 million tons a year. Put into perspective, they say that quantity of waste, loaded onto container trains, would stretch all the way around the world.

Speaking at the CleanUp 2013 conference in Melbourne Australia, Professor Ming Wong, director of the Croucher Institute for Environmental Sciences at Hong Kong Baptist University, described the growing problem of e-waste as a "timebomb."

"[It] is the world's fastest growing waste stream, rising by 3 to 5% every year," said Wong.

The Phonebloks concept aims to decrease e-waste by offering consumers the opportunity to replace individual components of their phone, while retaining the device's basic frame.

Once constructed, Hakkens hopes that the Phonebloks handset will be built from components that can be 'clicked' together like Legos. Each component will have its own function e.g. Bluetooth, WiFi, battery, or camera. When a component stops working or needs to be upgraded, it can be quickly replaced with a new 'blok'.

In theory, Hakkens believes that choosing separate components could enable users to personalize their cell phone to their own specifications, adding an improved camera, increased storage or a larger battery.

"The idea is to set up a platform which, if used correctly, can reduce the amount of waste significantly," Hakkens says.

At present, Phonebloks is still a long way from reaching the market -- indeed its inventor hasn't even asked for any money to begin developing it. For now, Hakkers has simply been gathering support for the concept through the "crowd-speaking" platform Thunderclap.

At the time of writing, the Phonebloks concept video has received more than 12 million views on YouTube and been shared on social networks more than 650,000 times. The project has also received support from the actor Elijah Wood and television correspondent Jessica Northey.

The Phonebloks concept is not without its critics. Some argue that making a device that can more easily be upgraded will increase e-waste rather than reducing it. Others suggest that it would be 

impossible to build a functional smartphone in a modular way.

Hakkens says that at the very least his campaign has shown that there is an appetite for an environmentally friendly cell phone and that even though the concept was only officially launched a week ago "we are already having conversations with some serious players."

Tom Dowdall, a Climate and Energy spokesperson for Greenpeace, says that the interest in Phonebloks may be useful in underlining the growing prooblem of e-waste: "Hopefully the popularity of the Phonebloks concept will spark more action from the major manufacturers. It should not be beyond the innovative phone companies to make products that are upgradable and designed to last."

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