By Bhavesh Sankla

 BlackBerry was produced by a Canadian company called Research In Motion (RIM) which was founded in  The BlackBerry Smartphone with its push , web browsing, internet and text messaging service was only introduced into the market in  With its built in keyboard, the BlackBerry is mainly know for its ability to send and receive s when connected to any wireless network.  The BlackBerry Smartphone’s are very popular with large businesses.  “On September 25 th 2008 RIM announced the number of BlackBerry subscribers has reached approximately 19 million” ( )  BlackBerry Features – 3.2mp camera  - Mobile TV/Internet  - Video Streaming  - Bluetooth  - MP3 Player  - Touch Screen

 The first telephone call in the UK was made in  The first mobile phones were made up of a large box with a heavy battery pack attached to it.  The introduction of lithium batteries allows us to use the phone for much longer as their battery life is longer.  The first ever developed mobile phones in the 80’s where known as 1G (1 st generation), improved development has led us to the 3G (3 rd generation) mobiles. These mobiles (BlackBerry Smartphone) are able to send/receive s, watch live TV, and use the video call service.  3G mobiles allow its users to be connected, and they are able to use their mobile phone from any where in the world.  3G mobiles contain liquid crystal display screens (LCD) which gives the mobile phone high quality screens, so pictures and videos can be seen with quality.  3G mobile technology is continually being improved, mobile phones are getting smaller and are able to cope with much more. In the future we could buy mobiles which can download whole films in high definition.

 E-waste (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment) is equipment which is broken or unwanted that cannot be reused or recycled.  The increase in unwanted and old equipment has led to the government being concerned as the waste contains toxic chemicals that are non biodegradable, causing the land fields to fill up.  The BlackBerry Storm has a poor design as the rechargeable battery, the liquid crystal display (LCD) display and the printed circuit board (PCB) contain toxic chemicals which must be dealt properly.  Other parts include – Plastic casing  - Lead, mercury components  - Battery charger  Improper disposal of old mobile phones and used batteries could cause environmental pollution especially to soil and underground water which could affect public health.

 In 2005, the European Union (EU) introduced the WEEE directive which would make manufacturers directly responsible for the waste disposal at the end life of the product.  However this law was only introduced into the UK on 2 nd Jan 07.  Closely linked in with this law is the RoHS ( Restriction on the use of certain hazardous substances)  This only came to force on July 2006  This bans manufacturers from selling electronic equipment which include more then the set level of toxic components such as lead, mercury, chromium and other materials.  RIM will have to spend more money and time in the design and production stages of the BlackBerry storm, as they are required to use less harmful components.

 The recycling law means that RIM will increase the price of their BlackBerry Storm phone service by forcing customers to pay the additional money.  It is expected to cost RIM millions of pounds a year in recycling their old mobile phones as they will have to buy new machinery, add additional staff to their team, and pay the large overhead costs such as electricity.  Price increase of up to 1- 10% is estimated. This would mean that on the cheapest BlackBerry handset which costs £179, there would be a estimated price increase of up to £17.9 if there was a 10% increase.  However RIM have introduced a ‘Trade Up’ program which allows customers to bring back their old BlackBerry phones, trade it in, and get a reduced price on their new phone.  RIM have no choice about putting the price up, as they need to do this in order to recover some of the costs of retrieving the old mobile, and recycling it.

The graph above shows the number of mobile phone units sold worldwide. It is expected to reach the 1 billion mark in It shows that customers are not fully effected by the slight increase in price, therefore the price increase will not dramatically effect the companies sales of the product.

This flow diagram shows the close relationship between RoHS and WEEE. It shows that WEEE is more closely linked with recycling, whereas RoHS is related to reduced and eliminating the hazardous component and is the best option as it has a positive environmental impact.

The image above shows that BlackBerry are one of the most eco-friendly mobile phones as there is no recorded criticism for pollution & toxics. This indicates that their mobiles may contain very low amounts of toxic components, and their recycling methods are very efficient.

 In this presentation I have explained how the price of a BlackBerry Smartphone is affected by a environmental factor.  It is important to understand that due to the WEEE and RoHS directive RIM have had no choice but the change their design and production methods of the phone.  More time has been spent on research as RIM have had to substitute materials which they use, this is one of the main reason’s of their slight price increase of the BlackBerry.  But RIM must be careful when picking the new components as they must be just as reliable as the old ones, and still improve the performance of the phone at the same time.  As a current mobile phone user I have realised the large impact unwanted mobiles have on the environment, and I think we should all take positive steps forward to ensure greater quantities of mobiles are recycled.