As the original iPad kids, Gen Z is no stranger to technology. We are the first generation to truly grow up on the internet and become natives of the digital world. On a college campus like FSU, I see smartphones, tablets, headphones, laptops, and earbuds everywhere I go.
This abundance of electronics is partly fueled by tech corporations like Apple releasing a new iPhone every year, pushing the idea that electronics need to be swapped like fashion trends. This upgrade cycle that’s been driving consumers to purchase the newest device is also driving a high demand for cobalt, which has far-reaching consequences in places way beyond your back pocket.
The Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo), one of the most minerally rich countries on Earth, is a land with some of the poorest inhabitants. Over 70 percent of the Congolese people, equating to approximately 60 million people, live on less than $1.90 a day. While agriculture is where the majority of the Congolese make their income, up to two million people work in artisanal mining in the DR Congo, and there are many more who depend on artisanal mining to make a living.
The word artisanal typically evokes images of skilled workers with high-quality equipment, however, the word as it’s being used in this context is nothing short of a euphemism. The artisanal miners who labor in the southern part of the country have no protective equipment or proper mining tools. The scenes at the artisanal mines are gruesome: thousands of people hacking and picking at the ground, mining metals such as copper, lithium, and cobalt, all essential to power the digital age.
These are the people at the bottom of the supply chain for every new electronic device. While using your laptop isn’t dangerous, handling the metals that make it run is. Cobalt is toxic to breathe and touch, and without proper worker regulations, hundreds of thousands of Congolese people are being exposed daily to raw cobalt. Additionally, the majority of miners live directly next to these cobalt mines, meaning their children grow up in the haze of dust from constant excavation.
In addition, child labor is unfortunately common in the cobalt mines of the DR Congo. Thousands of children miss school to work in mines and produce cobalt to help their families make ends meet. Artisanal miners are not salaried workers, meaning that not being able to work leaves the miners and their families without essentials such as food and medicine. Oftentimes, teenagers must work in place of a family member who was injured or killed in a mine collapse.
Family units typically work together in the mines, where older male members brave the dangerous mines to retrieve the precious metal, then hand it off to the women and children to wash and sort the ores. Despite the hard labor that requires multiple family members, the cobalt that’s collected by a unit at the end of each day is only around $2. This cobalt is then sold to cobalt depots, which collect artisanal mined cobalt and combine it with machine-excavated cobalt, contaminating the entire supply chain. There’s no distinguishing between ethically sourced cobalt and cobalt mined by Congolese working in conditions on par with slavery.
The majority of devices that hold a charge, like cellphones, headphones, and even vapes most likely all contain cobalt mined by human hands. The high demand placed on devices like these by Gen Z among other generations is contributing to the humanitarian crisis in the DR Congo.
To reduce their impact, some TikTokers have quit vaping entirely solely due to their concerns about the unethical sourcing of cobalt in the DR Congo. Single-use vapes contain cobalt mined by Congolese men, women, and children which later end up in landfills. Besides that, single-use vapes are incredibly high in demand, leading to an average of four and a half vapes per second being thrown out in the US alone. This worsens the impacts already created by the rise in popularity of other new devices such as electric vehicles. There’s also no standard legal way to recycle vapes, leading to an incredibly high amount of this non-renewable resource being wasted.
Consumer demand has been used successfully to create positive change in the past. Buy products that are made entirely of recycled materials or buy devices that have already been used. The next time you’re shopping to buy any new battery-powered electronic device, consider the human cost behind it. Being a more conscious consumer is important to make sure that you’re getting the most use out of each product, and after that, look into responsible ways to recycle it for the sake of others.
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