CD-ROM Environmental Impact
Each year 5.5 million software packages go to landfills and incinerators, and millions of music CDs are thrown away each year (US) (
Pritchard, 2007). This report aims to analyse the impact this has on the environment, and how it can be improved in both the supply chain and design of the product.
Environmental Impact
A CD-ROM uses a variety of non-renewable and non-biodegradable materials in its production process (such as aluminium, polycarbonate, petroleum dyes, etc. (
Life cycle of a CD or DVD, 2003)) resulting in unwanted CD-ROMS either filling up landfills or being incinerated releasing harmful dioxins into the atmosphere. Although some of these materials harbour the ability to be recycled, into high-quality plastic, the complex procedure, with no specialist companies readily available, means this process is highly improbable. Other optical media such as the DVD-ROM (Digital Versatile Disk – Read Only Memory) and BD-ROM (Blue-ray – Read Only Memory) are manufactured in the same way; however due to their larger storage capacity require fewer discs to hold the same information, inevitably improving their environmental impact. A good example of this would be the Leader’s Library software, which can be purchased as either one DVD or seven CDs (
Leaders Library, n.d.). Although once disposed of a DVD will take as long to degrade it is a more viable option compared to the disposal of seven CDs, consuming less space in landfills.
Even though accompanying manuals and other printed materials are more readily recycled than their CD-ROMs additional manufacturing and transportation process of these causes significant environmental impact. The Times of London reported the average paperback book has caused 3kg of carbon emissions by the time it gets to a reader (
Pritchard, 2007). Despite these materials being biodegradable, this evidence displays their environmental impact is far from eradicated. Yet, this remains a problem over all optical media and is in need of addressing.
Most CD-ROMs are sold in jewel cases covered in a plastic shrink wrap, and these are particularly damaging to the environment. They are produced from polyvinyl chloride (PVC), a plastic containing a variety of additives such as lead, making it difficult to recycle and non-biodegradable. In fact Greenpeace identified PVC as the least recyclable out of the six major plastics and the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency (US)) estimated that less than one percent of jewel cases are recycled (
O’Dwyer, 2005), with the rest discarded in landfills or incinerators. BD-ROMs and DVD-ROMs use larger cases, produced from polypropylene plastic (
Jewel cases and sleeves, n.d.) and effect the environment in a similar way. Although polypropylene is slightly easier to recycle, (using fewer additives in its manufacturing) the facilities are not readily available, most public recycling programs only accept polyethylene or high-density polyethylene plastics. Again i feel this issue is one that has not been properly addressed and would be relatively easy to improve upon.
Supply Chain Principle Improvement
Figure 1: Mild Disk – First biodegradable CD (Rojas, 2004)
The environmental impact could be improved with better planning of the sourcing of materials; to produce biodegradable discs that could decompose after a few years as an alternative to the current design. Sanyo released the ‘Mild Disc’ in September 2003 (see Figure 1), a biodegradable disc produced with corn based materials (
SANYO Produces World First Bio-Plastic, 2003). This material is not only biodegradable but also renewable. The ‘Mild Disc’ will degrade after a period of 50 – 100 years (
MildDisc, 2009), which is a considerable improvement compared to the current CD-ROMs which take around 500 years to decompose (
ECO-SAFE Tips, n.d.), with some materials never degrading. Manufacturing biodegradable discs would reduce the impact on both landfills and incinerators. The former would benefit from more space as discs would not take as long to decompose, and the latter would benefit from the reduction of harmful gases. Burning corn based materials would not release harmful dioxins released by the burning plastic materials used in current CD-ROMs, which would aid the impact on the environment further.
Design Principle Improvement
Figure 2: Cardboard Sleeve (Paperboard CD Sleeves, 2009)
The jewel case is not environmentally friendly and can be improved by simplifying the design. Currently, jewel cases are produced so the user can travel with the discs without the risk of scratching. My proposal would be to user a simpler, more eco-friendly design such as the cardboard sleeve (Figure 2). Basic information could be stored on the sleeve (e.g. installation instructions, track list (music CD)) and any further information (such as manuals and advertising media) could be stored on the Disc as software. The obvious flaw here is the need to possess a computer to access this additional information but with 80.6% of US homes possessing a computer (
Jhonson, 2009), I do not feel this design would seriously reduce the current market. Moreover, with daily newspapers and television constantly reminding us about our carbon footprint, such a design could appeal to the public in a bid to help cut their carbon emissions. This has previously been used with the advertising of many CD-ROMs - such as internet service provider AOL. It has a sturdy structure and will protect a CD-ROM from any immediate damage, and although it may not provide the protection or durability of a jewel case, jewel cases are designed to keep a CD working for decades. This is irrelevant as recent research has shown that in the US 100,000 pounds of CD-ROMs a month become outdated, useless or unwanted (
Pritchard, 2007). Very few people keep CD-ROMs for the length of time intended by its design, I posses numerous CD-ROMs however not one them is over three years old, due to older discs becoming scratched or outdated, so cardboard sleeves would be a big step in reducing the environmental impact for all optical media.
Conclusion
Even though my analysis of both a supply change and design principle have enabled me to suggest a reduced environmental impact for the CD-ROM with DVDs readily available and relatively cheap to buy, I fail to see the need for the CD anymore. In reality the ultimate environmental improvement would be to remove the CD all together, and have current media transferred onto higher storage disks, to reduce the amount of disks being disposed of.
References
ECO-SAFE Tips. (n.d.). Retrieved on May 16, 2009, from:
http://eco-safe.com/green/tips
Jewel cases and sleeves. (n.d.). Retrieved on May 14, 2009, from the Sure Thing website:
http://www.surething.com/St/Category.asp?CatCode=CD_DVD_CASES
Jhonson, S. (2009, April 9).
Over 57 Percent Of American Homes Have Access To High-Speed Internet Service. Retrieved on May 17, 2009, from the Article Alley website:
http://www.articlealley.com/article_853232_15.html
Leaders Library. (n.d.). Retrieved on May 12, 2009, from the Logos website:
http://www.logos.com/leaders#
Life cycle of a CD or DVD. (2003). Retrieved on May 12, 2009, from the Environmental Protection Agency website:
http://www.epa.gov/osw/education/pdfs/finalposter.pdf
MildDisk. (2009, April 17). Retrieved on May 16, 2009, from the Wikipedia website:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MildDisc
O’Dwyer, J. (2005).
Hurricanes and CD jewel cases. Retrieved on May 14, 2009, from:
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1594/is_6_16/ai_n15895195/
Paperboard CD Sleeves. (2009). Retrieved on May 21, 2009, from the Sleevetown website: www.sleevetown.com/cardboard-cd-sleeve.shtml
Pritchard, C. (2007, August 16).
How the Physical Distribution of Digital Goods Impacts the Environment. Retrieved May 13, 2009, from the
Earth2Tech website:
http://earth2tech.com/2007/08/16/how-the-physical-distribution-of-digital-goods-impacts-the-environment/
Rojas, P. (2004, July 12).
Sanyo’s corn discs can’t stand the heat. Retrieved May 18, 2009, from the engaget website:
http://www.engadget.com/2004/07/12/sanyos-corn-discs-cant-stand-the-heat/
SANYO Produces World First Bio-Plastic. (2003, September 24). Retrieved on May 16, 2009, from the SANYO website:
http://jp.sanyo.com/koho/hypertext4-eng/0309news-e/0924-e.html
