Fair Smartphone And Recycled Concrete - Environmental Award Honors Creative Minds

To set a signal for the protection and sustainable use of natural raw materials so that the livelihoods of planet earth are preserved for future generations: This is a central goal that the German Federal Environmental Foundation (DBU) wants to achieve by awarding its German Environmental Award 2016. "Representative research shows that we are already straining the earth beyond its limits," warned DBU General Secretary Dr. Heinrich Bottermann. Every year the so-called "World Creation Day" is reached earlier. On this day, all resources that could replace the earth in that year are used up.

Bottermann explains: "We need creative pioneers who can show us how we can achieve change." The environmental award winners are such pioneers: On October 30, Federal President Joachim Gauck will turn entrepreneur Bas van Abel from Amsterdam and Amsterdam into Würzburg Scientist Prof. Angelika Mettke from Cottbus and entrepreneur Walter Feeß from Kirchheim / Teck received the largest independent environmental award in Europe. The award is endowed with a total of 500,000 euros.

"Earth Overshoot Day" 2016

From now on it's too much

Pioneers for the sustainable use of valuable resources

The foundations of life that our planet offers us are limited. The use of raw materials must therefore be handled responsibly. All three environmental award winners are pioneers in their industry for the sustainable use of valuable resources. While Van Abel, founder and managing director of Fairphone BA, is finding new ways in the information and communication industry to counter the excessive consumption of mobile phones and smartphones, Prof. Angelika Mettke from the Brandenburg University of Technology (BTU) Cottbus-Senftenberg and Walter Feeß, Managing Director of Heinrich Feeß GmbH & Co. KG, advance the use of recyclable concrete parts and recycled concrete. In both industries, the extraction of raw materials is destroying valuable habitats across the board.And in both industries, according to the award winners, there are opportunities to reduce this use - and thus preserve living spaces - by relying on a longer life cycle of the products - be it smartphones or concrete.

Change in handling smartphones necessary

"We urgently need a change in the handling of mobile phones and smartphones, of which there are more on earth than people," says the DBU general secretary. “Each device is equipped with valuable metals and components that can often only be extracted under great environmental pollution. However, most of them are retired after a few years or thrown away, even though they are still fully functional. “In addition, it is often not possible to replace the most important components such as the battery or display, because they are not designed and built to be easy to repair. It is different with the Fairphone. The company of the same name is a "Social Enterprise". The aim is to produce an ethically justifiable smartphone with the least possible damage to the environment and without exploiting people.At the same time, the associated production systems should be transparent and problems made visible.

The entire value chain at a glance

"Fairphone has developed strategies for the entire value chain to improve the currently prevailing conditions," says Bottermann. Individual components are interchangeable, so that raw materials are spared through longer life cycles and cycles are closed, for example through recycling. Bottermann also explains: “The company is constantly improving the manufacturing process in order to gradually make the materials and equipment and the composition of costs more transparent. Social, occupational safety and environmental standards are to be improved on site so that people in conflict regions are employed on fair terms and the impact on the environment is as small as possible."

Content of the article:

• Page 1: Fair smartphone and recycled concrete - environmental award honors creative minds
• Page 2: Break through retracted structures

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