 |
Panasonic Designers Plan for Devices' DeathBefore the Panasonic SD Video Camera was born, designers planned for its death.
When the $400 camera wears out and can no longer record video, play music or take photos, Panasonic engineers want it to do one final thing: be easy to get rid of.
So it has no lead, no mercury and no brominated flame retardants - all hazardous substances that make consumer electronics such as personal computers, digital cameras and televisions dangerous to bury in landfills and difficult to recycle. The camera's aluminum casing can be smelted and made into other products. When its lithium ion battery runs out, it can be dropped off at one of 30,000 retail stores nationwide.
"We wanted to eliminate hazardous materials and make it easy to recycle," said David Thompson, director of corporate environmental affairs for Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., which owns Panasonic. "This is a design objective that's being built into all of our products."
And not just at Panasonic. Computer and electronics makers around the world increasingly factor a product's destruction into its creation. The trend is driven in part by environmental regulations but also by shorter product cycles and a consumer culture that allow obsolete gadgetry to stack up faster than ever.
"Prices for electronics have come way down," said Philip White, principal designer a
more: www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-de... (101)
8/2/2005 | Viewed 13,403 time(s)
|
|
