Design Life-Cycle

Andre Lam

Professor Cogdell

DES 040A

4 December 2019

Raw Materials in the Life Cycle of the Nintendo Switch

    If you ask anyone about video games, more often than not will they know of Nintendo. One of the biggest video game companies globally, Nintendo produces consoles and games that are beloved by many. With the launch of the Nintendo Switch, where you can either play on the go or at home on the big screen, Nintendo’s prestige has skyrocketed. Despite finding huge success, Nintendo remains vague on its environmental policy on the manufacture of the Nintendo Switch. Made with minerals, plastics, and other secondary raw materials, Nintendo does not state the specifics of how they procure their raw materials for their latest console. The world becomes more aware of the damages to our environment each day, and companies around the world respond to this trend by shifting to sustainable methods and becoming more transparent in their operations. Despite the ambiguity and implicit pollutive nature of Nintendo’s acquisition of raw materials and manufacturing methods, Nintendo has been focusing on more sustainable and clean raw materials in other sections of the Nintendo Switch’s life cycle, especially in the recycling phase.

       The Nintendo Switch has two main types of raw materials. The first type is metal; multiple internal components of the console require minerals, such as the printed circuit board, lithium-ion battery, AZ91D metal skeleton sheet, and copper heat pipe (Choi). The list of minerals includes aluminum, gold, iron, and zinc. But the most important minerals are copper and silica, as those two minerals are the most common raw material of the internal components. Many of these metallic parts are contained by plastic, the second main material type of the Nintendo Switch.

      Aside from metal, the Nintendo Switch also relies on plastic as an outer layer of protection and overall shape of the console. Made up of coal, natural gas and oil, plastic nearly makes up the entire outside part of the Nintendo Switch (“Polymerization: How Plastic Materials are Made”). Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene, or shortened to ABS, plastic covers the majority of the Switch, including the JoyCons, buttons, and the tablet (Wu). The screen itself is also composed of an unknown clear plastic rather than glass, leaving it vulnerable to scratches (Khan). Nintendo also must have used some sort of dye or paint to color the plastic, but information on the coloring methods could not be found. With just different types of metals and plastics and other minor materials, the Nintendo Switch is complete. However, even though the console requires mainly two types of materials, the methods of acquiring them are very pollutive to the environment.

       The price of gathering materials for the Nintendo Switch manifests itself in the environment. Although Nintendo does not give specifics to how and where they procure their raw materials, researching traditional methods of obtaining those materials can be used as a substitute to find accurate costs of procuring their raw materials. To acquire metals and coal, they must be mined from the Earth’s crust. The process of “mining involves the removal [stripping] of surface vegetation, dirt, and … layers of bedrock.” (“Where and How Does Mining Take Place”). While there are two types of mining (strip mining and underground mining) and it is unknown which method Nintendo uses, both types of mining endanger the environment. Mining “destroys landscapes [and] wildlife habitats,” especially bodies of water as “sediments pollute waterways”, resulting in fish and plant life decaying (“Effects of Mining on the Environment and Human Health”). In the case of coal, health issues grow increasingly more significant; communities near coal mining are vulnerable to numerous diseases, such as “cardiopulmonary disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and hypertension” (Castleden). For plastics, oil and natural gas are drilled from either onshore or offshore. Onshore methods expose trapped water onto the surface, simultaneously also bringing “dissolved solids, heavy metals, hydrocarbons, and radioactive materials in concentrations” that harm both humans and the environment (“The Hidden Costs of Fossil Fuels”). Offshore drilling is not that environmentally friendly either, as it requires large plots of land, potentially harming “wildlife populations”. (“The Hidden Costs of Fossil Fuels). The mined coal and drilled oil and gases will also be used for fossil fuels in various processes in the Nintendo Switch’s life cycle. The raw materials in the first step of the Nintendo Switch’s life cycle already have glaring environmental pollution issues, which continues into the manufacturing phase.

       The raw materials that go into manufacturing Switch components also provide damage to the environment. According to ICMM, to first begin making many of these components, the metals acquired must be “separated from waste material to form a concentrate … by adding chemicals to the ore materials and running them through a series of processes”; the composition of these chemicals is unknown. Afterward, the metals “are refined” usually through smelting, requiring the usage of coal combustion due to the metals’ high melting points. The process of coal combustion is highly toxic, as it emits carbon dioxide and mercury, an element that could affect the “brain development of ... unborn” children (Castleden). Coal is a huge material in the manufacturing phase, as many components require smelting at high temperatures such as the AZ91D metal alloy (skeleton) and heat pipe, using the aforementioned methods above (they also assumedly might need molds to pour the melted metals into their respective shapes).

       The PCB, or printed circuit board, “is a self-contained module of interconnected electronic components” (“Printed Circuit Board”). It is made with layers of metals, most notably copper and gold for conductivity. To connect these layers, solder is used as a glue-like material. However, solder is also a highly toxic material; not only does it contains tin, but it also has lead which releases noxious fumes (“Printed Circuit Board”).

       The Lithium-Ion Battery is a core part of the console. It allows users to continue playing their Nintendo Switch, as the battery is rechargeable. However, this convenience comes at a price. When manufacturing a lithium-ion battery, metal materials are “mixed with polymer binders, conductive additives, and solvents to form a slurry that is then coated on a current collector foil and dried to remove the solvent and create a porous electrode coating” (Daniel). While the materials used for polymer binders and conductive additives could not be found, the solvent used in this process is known as NMP or N-methylpyrrolidone. Although only used in the manufacturing phase, NMP is a chemical that contains a mixture of gases and oils; those materials use the same acquisition methods as described earlier (“Preliminary Information on Manufacturing, Processing, Distribution, Use, and Disposal: N-Methylpyrrolidone [NMP]”. NMP that emits “flammable vapors and is highly toxic,” adding to the list of toxic materials for manufacturing the Nintendo Switch.

       The Nintendo Switch has many other materials such as ABS plastic, the Nvidia Tegra X1 chip, and ribbon cables that either have no additional raw materials or their manufacturing process is unknown. The known manufacturing processes of components, however, are shown to be highly lethal to not just the environment, but also humanity. After all components are manufactured, they are sent to Southeast Asia where the Nintendo Switch console itself is manufactured in factories (Gilbert). Afterward, the consoles are shipped around the globe to meet its high global demand.

       After seeing how pollutive the raw materials of the Nintendo Switch’s life cycle is up until this point, many seem speculative on whether or not Nintendo is an environment-friendly company. The Nintendo Switch has high demands in North America, Europe, and Asia; it seems inevitable that fossil fuel is a necessary material for distribution. However, Nintendo has been taking steps to be more conservative and reduce fossil fuel usage. They claim that they are “using energy-efficient modes of transportation (modal shift)” (CSR Report). Looking more into what modal shift is, “modal shift means replacing a saturated means of transport with another to make the first less congested” (“What is Modal Shift?”). The term modal shift implies that Nintendo is integrating transportation through cars and trains more, rather than continuing to focus mainly on plane and ship transportation (their main source of transportation). By relying more on cars and trains, fewer fossil fuels are used as their smaller sizes demand less fuel. However, Nintendo is also reducing the usage of fossil fuels on one of their main sources of transportation as well, as a “hundred percent of [their] freight carriers have been certified through the EPA SmartWay program,” focusing on reducing greenhouse emissions. In addition to cutting back on fossil fuels, Nintendo also emphasizes on being eco-friendly in their packaging process. All materials used in packaging Nintendo Switch consoles utilize both recyclable paper and plastic, assumedly made from existing paper and plastic respectively. Rather than using a petroleum solvent, Nintendo uses a vegetable-based ink for print as it is biodegradable and eco-friendly. Although the type of vegetable-based ink is not specified, common oils that are used for these inks include soybean and linseed oils (“Eco-Friendly Ink: Vegetable Based and VOC Free: Printing”). The transparency of the transportation phase of the Switch’s life cycle contrasts the vagueness of Nintendo’s methods during the early parts of the life cycle; it seems as if this is Nintendo’s response to people doubting if the company cared about the environment. Nintendo continues to answer to the public’s woes in the use, reuse, and maintenance phase.

Surprisingly, the Nintendo Switch uses little to no raw materials while in use. The battery itself is rechargeable, so the console can run indefinitely so as long the battery is charged. If any part(s) of the Nintendo Switch is broken, a consumer can send their console to Nintendo and they will repair the specific parts that are damaged (Nintendo Product Recycling). Of course, transporting the console to Nintendo requires fossil fuels and possibly the same raw materials used from the manufacturing process. Although Nintendo is using the same pollutive raw materials again for maintenance, note that these repair requests are not too common; the reuse of these materials is minimal, especially compared to the first two phases of the life cycle. Sometimes, the need for manufacturing new parts to replace broken ones is not necessary, due to Nintendo’s recycling policy.

       Recycling can be seen as the most significant factor in the Nintendo Switch’s environmental plan. According to Nintendo, they “recycle close to 100 percent of the materials from any returned products or repair parts that cannot be reused, and partner with a certified recycler to ensure responsible recycling practices,” although they give no specifics to the process of recycling. Not only does Nintendo accept their consoles, but consoles produced by other companies, such as Sony and Microsoft. The recycled materials are refurbished and are used for their repair program and other electronics not limited to just Nintendo. This means that less raw materials (fossil fuels) are needed in manufacturing Nintendo Switch consoles, as Nintendo uses refurbished recycled goods that do not need to go through the manufacturing process again. Although the transportation of recycled goods requires fossil fuels, Nintendo recommends recycling locally, especially with “a recycler with a commitment to supporting environmental stewardship who will handle the donated material in a responsible way” (Nintendo Product Recycling). As a result, fossil fuel usage is significantly decreased and negligible in this phase. Nintendo heavily emphasizes on recycling their consoles’ materials, resulting in the minimization of waste.

       Nintendo puts much of its efforts into recycling so that few materials will be used for disposing of waste. Like previously mentioned, Nintendo recycles almost 100 percent of all their returned goods. But what happens to the small percentage that is not recycled? It is assumed that that percentage is left to be disposed of. According to Levin, electronic waste is “left in a huge pit or burned.” This results in fossil fuels being used to transport waste into landfills and/or coal to be used as fuel for incinerators. However, since Nintendo heavily focuses on recycling electronic waste, disposal methods are used at a minimum. At the end of the Nintendo Switch’s life cycle, most materials never fully move on as waste, but rejoin the life cycle of the console.

Nintendo relies heavily on toxic materials and unsustainable methods of producing the Nintendo Switch, which explains their silence on the topic. On the other hand, Nintendo voices a strong and vocal support for environmental protection especially through their recycling program, contrasting the earlier parts in the console’s life cycle. However, awareness of climate change has been increasing this past decade. Even youth such as Greta Thunberg has made it to the world stage, being concerned about the state of our planet on the behalf of the global community. It will be interesting to see if Nintendo will take action to improve their methods to be more green and eco-friendly in response to the growing unease of pollutants.

Bibliography

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Ivan talev

DES 40A

Professor Cogdell

4 December 2019

Nintendo switch life cycle

energy

Introduction

Ever since we created technology, it became such a massive focal point of our lives. So much so, that we created games and overall entertainment systems. In this paper we will be talking about the environmental effects of one of these entertainment systems, the Nintendo Switch.

In general, the switch is viewed as a harmless toy, but given the information one can come to another realization. Here is where we can talk about the energy consumed by out electronic entertainment systems

Electronics are incredibly inefficient to make and transport because of their complexity in material needs, thus they use a lot of energy, and pollute the environment even more.

Raw Materials

Since the Nintendo switch is a digital chip based technology, its materials are all rare, and quite difficult to extract mostly using very high end large, and very inefficient machinery. It uses a lot of silica based materials, and rare metals such as gold, silver, copper, and many more. Those take significant energy to mine. But there is another segment of the case and screen materials that are both plastic. Those are made with oil that is incredibly difficult to acquire and require copious amounts of energy to collect the primary material. And last, but not least there is a battery that is lithium ion based, lithium being a quite rare material too so it falls in the same category of cute energy tasking to get.

Manufacturing/Processing

Naturally, technology manufacturing is a very precise, intricate, and long process that uses copious amounts of energy because it is largely run by machines that are powered by electricity. Manufacturing the chips is one of the most complex and possibly toxis processes we have in manufacturing. This makes of a severely energy taxing Manufacturing the case is an extremely toxic process that requires many other chemicals to get to the point of getting the plastic, and in the process creates large amounts of toxic waste. It is shaped with injection molding that isn't inefficient, but it can't compensate for the large energy waste from creating plastic in the first place. The motherboard of the Nintendo switch is so complex, and tasking to do that on its own it is easily one of the biggest consumers of energy in the manufacturing process at least. It uses harsh chemicals processing, and is almost entirely made by machines, therefore making it quite tasking energy wise.

Distribution/ Transportation

There are two aspects of transportation in my eyes, the delivery of materials between manufacturing plants and shipping to customers.

The materials are usually shipped with large cargo ships, known to be one of the biggest most energy abusing ships. Those ships consume more fuels, and produce more greenhouse gasses than almost anything else making them a huge contributor to the already high total energy used in the lifecycle of the Nintendo switch. The other options for large scale material delivery between companies, is by trucks those though not quite as bad as ships, are not exactly as efficient as a tree in a field of roses.

The other type of transportation is delivery to sellers, and customers that one uses all of the above with the addition of planes. Those are both immensely inefficient as regards to energy use, and are one of the main polluters on the planet therefore making them a large problem for us.

Use/Reuse

The Nintendo switch is lucky made to be a very robust product that is meant to be used over a long amount of time, and to be even repairable. So in that aspect of it good job for not making customers buy more and more, thus perpetuating the copious energy used in the creation of the product. However it is also a digital bit of technology so it uses electricity. Electricity is a very tasking power to make, because it’s a secondary energy, and transporting that to customers is a process known to lose a lot of production. It also has to store power in batteries that are also highly inefficient. Therefore, though better than some technologies, the Nintendo switch definitely has its fair share of energy abuse. 

Recycling

Parts of the Nintendo switch are in fact recyclable, but like many other silica based products, it is not possible to recycle the Chips in it completely. This makes it a very inefficient process in that regard.

Waste

We all know how bad plastic is on our planet, but not many of us realize how bad taking the plastic to these places is, and furthermore how some of these plastics are processed afterwards. Most plastics are shipped from first world countries, to poor third world countries, so that our problem can be their problem, and out of sight. This process of shipping is incredibly energy consuming because large shipping tankers are such guzzlers of fuel. And then if some of these plastics make it to an actual processing plant, they go massive chemical and physical processing to make them decomposable, or reusable.

Electronics are incredibly inefficient to make and transport because of their complexity in material needs, thus they use a lot of energy, and pollute the environment even more.

Conclusion

The Nintendo Switch is a small entertainment system with anything but small effects on our planet, and in fact massive energy consumption. This being the case we haven't even touched on some of its power usage and how that power gets made, so the story is even broader that the picture I’m painting here. So at the very least we need to be mindful of this situation, and if we can change to at least using some more sustainable, reusable, or biodegradable materials we can at least make that part of the journey better. Sadly as of today there is no way to deliver this kind of system to people without heavy repercussions on our environment

Work Cited

Lithium ion batteries life cycle

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Shipping carbon footprint 

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Gilbert, Ben. “Nintendo Is Moving Production of Its Hit Nintendo Switch Game Console to Vietnam amid Trade Tensions between China and the US.” Business Insider, Business Insider, 9 July 2019, 9:50, amp.businessinsider.com/nintendo-switch-production-vietnam-china-trump-trade-war-2019-7.

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Jennifer Kim

DES 40A

Professor Cogdell

4 December 2019

Waste and Emissions throughout the Life Cycle of Nintendo Switch

Nintendo Switch is a video game that was created from a company called Nintendo. Nintendo was established in 1985 and since then, they have been one of the most well-known video game companies. Especially, their popularity increased more when they released the Nintendo Switch on 2017. According to Business Insider, more than 7 million consumers bought Nintendo Switch in 3 months; this indicates how Nintendo Switch is tremendously popular and sold among the consumers. During the research, it was noticeable that Nintendo tries to reduce waste emission through different approaches. Nintendo tries best to reduce waste, however, since waste is emitted throughout the whole life cycle of Nintendo Switch, it would be hard to get rid of all emitted waste.

            Waste emission during the shipping process and manufacturing process is often not considered when consumers think about waste and environment; they often do not encounter the fact that the manufacturing process and the shipping process actually emits more waste rather than the product itself. However, Nintendo is not only considering the waste from the product itself, but also waste from the manufacturing process and packaging process. 

The Nintendo company states that they reduce harmful products from the packaging and took a step closer towards eco-friendly product. One of the examples is using  recycled paper for shipping materials and printed materials in order to eliminate polystyrene. According to ChemicalSafetyFacts, polystyrene is a plastic that is widely used to produce different products. Although this material is used in a variety of ways, the problem with this material is that it is made up of petroleum, which is non-renewable and heavy pollutant substance. Not only that, it causes a lot of environmental pollution when polystyrene is created; the material itself causes pollution and it requires more pollution in order to get produced. Since Nintendo is working towards eliminating polystyrene, this indicates positive side of how Nintendo is trying to become eco-friendlier.

Nintendo states that 99% of their products are recycled through recycle policy and reusing them to make more Nintendo products. They offer repair system, which leads more people to return the consoles instead of throwing away when the consumers no longer use the consoles. The 1% that cannot be recycled is called PC ABS and this is plastic that is highly resistant to heat; this material is the main material that is needed to make Nintendo Switch. Although different types of plastics are recyclable, PC ABS is not one of them because they are toxic to the environment. According to Nintendo website, America processed 200 tons of returned Nintendo consoles, which means that they have recycled nearly ⅔ of the products that they have sold. Even though Nintendo took small steps to change the environment, those changes would add up to create a bigger and better outcome in the future.

The material that is hard to recycle is called PC ABS. ABS plastic is recyclable, but PC ABS cannot be recycled due to environmental issues. When this plastic is recycled, it releases harmful chemical compounds which would affect our nature and our living environment. PC plastic could potentially be toxic once thrown away because it has bisphenol A, BPA, which is used for producing plastic. Although some BPA is needed to make plastics, when we consume the substance, it would be really toxic for our health and cause problems like “cardiovascular problems, including coronary artery heart disease, angina, heart attack, hypertension, and peripheral artery disease” according to Medical News Today. However, Nintendo Switch has been taking steps to reduce toxic waste emission by changing the material of the packaging to more eco-friendly material.

Nintendo Switch is a well-known and one of the most popular products that were made my Nintendo company. Due to the fact that the product itself is made up of thermoplastic gave an impression as not eco-friendly product, but the research has changed many views. Nintendo Switch contains harmful material that like PC ABS, which cannot be fully recycled, but on the other hand, Nintendo company works hard towards reducing any other waste that they could reduce. Also, they have approached to change the packaging material to more eco-friendly substance in order to reduce impractical waste. They have chosen to recycle the products through repair system and they even take back any Nintendo consoles that consumers no longer want. There was not enough evidence to finally conclude that Nintendo Switch is 100% “eco-friendly” product, but there are factors that Nintendo is trying to approach to be eco-friendly.

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