Audio Change my mind: Wireless earphones/headphones are planned obsolescence and create a lot of e-waste.

AINDRASIS_GUPTA

AINDRASIS_GUPTA

Level F
I'd suggest reading this blog first to get a preface of what I'm putting forth as an argument: https://tnhdigital.com/2019/10/03/the-trend-of-air-pods-and-its-contribution-to-e-waste/

While we love to talk about 'right to repair' and companies should make repairable devices, we fail to acknowledge the elephant in the room - wireless earphones/headphones. There's no doubt that wireless earphones/headphone are leading to a lot of e-waste particularly because they're rarely repairable, yet people love using it. Why?

This seems hypocritical at best that we're trying to push the right to repair initiative, without fixing a problem that's easily solvable.

Take for example - you spend 9-10K INR on an Apple Airpod 1st Gen. It lasts for 2 years and then you buy another. Since, these things are unrepairable, they go straight to landfills.

On the other hand, you buy a wired earphone such as the Fiio FH1S for 6K INR (almost half of what you're paying for the Airpods) and yet they will last you for at least 5-10 years.

And on top of that, you're getting the following benefits with the Fiio:
  • Better build quality
  • Better sound quality (miles better)
  • Better compatibility (3.5 mm, duh!)
  • Better longevity
The only benefit you're getting with the AirPods is the lack or wires, or otherwise known as 'convenience'.

But, is that convenience is really worth it when you're responsible for damaging the environment?

And I'm not signaling Apple here. Samsung, Sony, Jabra and the other Chinese brands should also come into this picture for pushing the agenda of 'wireless earphones/headphones'.

I'd love to know the opinions of the people in this forum.
 
Shift from 3.5mm created a myriad of connecting options with different varieties of of 'convenience'. Don't think that such a change made anyone actually happy yet, than those vendors pushing crappy s/w dependent audio output.
 
TEUser2K1 said:
Shift from 3.5mm created a myriad of connecting options with different varieties of of 'convenience'. Don't think that such a change made anyone actually happy yet, than those vendors pushing crappy s/w dependent audio output.
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I feel only a small portion of us is unhappy with the 3.5 mm removal. The mainstream consumers have truly embraced the wireless phenomenon.
And we have to blame Apple for that, because they only started the trend.

While wireless earphones/headphones are making companies more money, we as consumers feel like we're buying an audio subscription service with these earphones/headphones that will only last 2-3 years at max.

All at the cost of creating more e-waste.
 
This goes for a lot of consumer products these days. Things are no longer built to last and companies deliberately make products which will fail in a few years. The pace of change, or at least perceived change, is so fast that people also want to upgrade every few years, whether they need to or not.

Many times the perceived convenience is achieved through gaslighting rather than actual utility. This is very much applicable for bluetooth headphones. Consider how easy it is to connect wired headphones, you insert the pin, done. You want to put it in a different device, you plug it in that. Done. Now enter bluetooth. First you have to pair the headphones with every device you want to connect it to. Now every time you want to use it, you have to switch it on and wait for it to connect to your device. And god forbid if two paired devices are in range. Now you have to figure out which one it is connected to and switch off the bluetooth on that. To top it all, you have to remember to charge it every once in a while. Since I use my headphones occasionally, it's almost never charged when I need it.

Contrary to popular perception, bluetooth headphones actually make more sense at home because then you can connect it to the TV/Computer and be free for some movement or not have a wire running across the room to trip people. On the move, your portable device is anyway going to be on your body, so wired headphones are way more convenient during commute. This is why companies had to force adoption by removing the headphone jack. Without this trick, people would never have found it more convenient.

To top it all, there's absolutely no way for consumers to safely dispose electronics, especially in India. I still don't know what I'm supposed to do with my old non-working electronics if I don't need them anymore or they've stopped working. Nobody actually works on disposal. Western countries just dump their e-waste in India/China (now banned)/Thailand etc. Then people working in dangerous conditions melt them in unsafe ways to create more toxic waste which goes down the drain, poisoning our soil and water.

This is a menace which is being made worse by companies. And we cannot blame the consumers because for an individual, the impact of their own actions are either not visible or seems too small (drop in the ocean) to matter. But a corporate is aware of all this and still proceeds with everything.
 
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Have a Samsung Galaxy FE20, to find a good working headphone with USB-C for that was difficult initially because many headphones didn't work initially. Later Samsung introduced some s/w addon or fix and it works okayish, depending on the headphone. One very cheap generic version works very fine, an adapter I purchased which was tad costly than the headphone itself behaves iffy.

The Sony WH-1000XM4 Wireless Noise Canceling Over-the-Ear Headphone which I purchased paying much beyond my budget, after lot of recommendation from a friend is lying in the cupboard, because I don't find it handy and convenient. I dislike how it pairs and connect with different devices and personally found sound quality not so enthralling as everyone else rave about it (may be it is just me).

@gourav
> To top it all, there's absolutely no way for consumers to safely dispose electronics, especially in India.

Many times felt these electronic waste can also be good resource for recycling. Lithium batteries, etc. are thrown out in waste, which can be recycled it seems. May help a bit with reducing mining and related serious conflicts, etc.
 
ewaste startups are around - create awareness, recycle responsibly. great business opp instead of this valid but pointless cribbing.
 
babhishek said:
ewaste startups are around - create awareness, recycle responsibly. great business opp instead of this valid but pointless cribbing.
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But this valid but pointless cribbing led you to post that ewaste startups are coming. Interesting info.

Can you give some examples, would like to send some old batteries to them.
 
More than wireless earphones/headphones, I would have thought that the sheer amount of mobiles sold would have already excarbated all the e-waste. We are consistently selling more than 1.5 billion phones each year for the past 5-6 years. Why blame just Apple ? All the manufacturers and we, ourselves, have to share this blame. The itch to upgrade/change never ceases which these manufacturers exploit to the hilt.
 
TEUser2K1 said:
But this valid but pointless cribbing led you to post that ewaste startups are coming. Interesting info.

Can you give some examples, would like to send some old batteries to them.
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While, I would like to send some batteries to them doesnt quite cut it.
Remember there are recyclers, collection agencies, collection point tie ups -might not be a one stop call and pick up solution.

Here you go :

there are many startups doing this, with regional presence. they have tie ups with apartment complexes etc, apps etc. there are other companies with flyers doing this in complexes i am staying in/rent/own.
https://hulladek.in is currently one in the region that i am in.

here is a state wise breakup of recyclers and capacity:

some more google search readings with location/city will also lead you to some options.
 
ibose said:
we ourselves, have to share this blame. The itch to upgrade/change never ceases which these manufacturers exploit to the hilt.
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No we don't. For two reasons:
  1. As mentioned above, for an individual, the impact doesn't seem like much. Most are not even aware of it. We can't expect everyone to be aware of how much impact buying a phone has on the environment.
  2. Manufacturers don't exploit the itch to upgrade, the create the itch to upgrade through constant bombardment of almost fake advertisements. Many people think that their 64 MP phone camera is better than their previous phone's 48 MP camera when in reality both are equally shitty, making pictures look "good" through software tricks like excessive skin smoothening and bizarre filters. Many people feel they need 128 GB storage which would serve them better than their previous phone's 64 GB storage when manufacturers could simply add a memory card slot and make this a non-issue. Many people are made to think that octa-core processors are better than quad-core processors when properly optimized systems could run just as well on quad-core processors. If I can use a Dual core processor on my PC with no hiccups, I could very well make do with a quad core processor on my phone.
The trend of blaming the common public is a propaganda of corporates/politicians to shift the blame. While there is no doubt that common public could be more responsible, that has really hardly ever worked. All change is brought about by public policies, regulations, and laws. The people themselves cannot create a big change because "the people" are not an organised body. The onus is on the government/regulators to create and enforce rules and laws to prevent environmental damage. Sadly in India, while a lot of rules are created, enforcement is pretty much non-existent. And we haven't even reached the stage where we can think of countering this menace of consumerism.
 
babhishek said:
While, I would like to send some batteries to them doesnt quite cut it.
Remember there are recyclers, collection agencies, collection point tie ups -might not be a one stop call and pick up solution.
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Now you know why people are 'crimping'. It is not pointless, they do that for a reason.
Everyone have their own circles of interest to take care of, not everybody is going to create recycling business. Good that such business are coming up. That list from cpcb does not have the state am looking for.

People will be ready to just drop off electronic waste in boxes meant for such purposes, or even post it using Indian postal service at a small fee. Or there should be some very low cost service which cover at least B & C class cities in a country as big as India.
Speaking of that, waste collection by people for recycling was made almost illegal in our area, they used to pay money for that. Now municipal corporation collect it and we have to pay Rs.50/- for a sac of plastic or metal waste for which we used to get money in return. And these corporation guys are very picky about the waste, they are making money from selling such recyclable waste, all the while taking Rs.50/- from average household. So, here goes our way of 'helping'.

btw, didn't mean anything against any company specifically. Some do set the trends, so onus partially falls on them to have such initiatives may be.
 
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gourav said:
Manufacturers don't exploit the itch to upgrade, the create the itch to upgrade through constant bombardment of almost fake advertisements.
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You are implying that as a consumer, we are gullible. Maybe in the past but not now. All the correct information is available among the fake clutter for you to review and decide. Just ignoring that holds you liable.
Yes, manufacturers do create situations where you are forced to upgrade. Which is why they are also the culprits.
gourav said:
All change is brought about by public policies, regulations, and laws. The people themselves cannot create a big change because "the people" are not an organised body. The onus is on the government/regulators to create and enforce rules and laws to prevent environmental damage.
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Yes and no. Yes, laws can be made but as long as we do not take the responsibility nothing will happen. One will always take the route that the Govt. is responsible but then we forget that saving the environment starts with us.
In fact I will not be surprised to see that folks who always look to the Govt to save the environment will crib when strong steps are taken.
 
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ibose said:
More than wireless earphones/headphones, I would have thought that the sheer amount of mobiles sold would have already excarbated all the e-waste. We are consistently selling more than 1.5 billion phones each year for the past 5-6 years. Why blame just Apple ? All the manufacturers and we, ourselves, have to share this blame. The itch to upgrade/change never ceases which these manufacturers exploit to the hilt.
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While I do agree that the number of mobile launches in a year has gone through the roof, you must understand that mobile phones are largely repairable & rare earth metals can be extracted from them for further reuse.

But, the same cannot be said for wireless earphones/headphones - they're made solely for making money and are irreparable. They have a limited shelf life that's less than an average mobile phone (maximum of 2-3 years) and they will need to be disposed without any reuse policy.

For example - you can donate your 5 year old phone to your child. But, can you do the same with your wireless/headphone? No. By the time the wireless earphone/headphone approaches its 3 year life span, it would be practically unusable and will be thrown away.

Furthermore, if you compare the cost vs value of mobile phones vs wireless earphone/headphone, it's not even close. Nowadays, you have to spend upwards of 5-6K INR to get a proper wireless earphone/headphone (more on the Apple side of things). 6K INR spend for 2 years shelf-life is just mediocre.

Remember, companies created a problem via the removal of headphone jack and then selling you the solution. For me, that's worse than selling more phones.
 
AINDRASIS_GUPTA said:
Remember, companies created a problem via the removal of headphone jack and then selling you the solution. For me, that's worse than selling more phones.
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I am not sure why the solution to the removal of the 3.5 mm jack need necessarily be wireless and unless someone shows me a statistical correlation between the two, I am less inclined to believe that that is the only reason which has led to the proliferation of wireless buds/headsets. You can always slap an adapter and go wired. The wireless options existed even before 3.5 jacks were demised. Maybe I am naïve but I thought they were are meant more for convenience rather than anything else. I agree to your point that these wireless earphones/headphones are pretty much use and throw once the battery dies. And the growing sales (33% YoY in 2021, reaching 310 million units) is a concern when it comes to e-waste. Surprisingly the sales spiked during the COVID lockdowns when people were working from home.

As far as your points regarding mobile phones are concerned, I would very much like to see the % getting recycled compared to the % sold. More than 1.5 billion annual sales since last 5-6 years and increasing each year tells me that folks aren't donating that many to kids. We started with one single sim phone, now most of us (myself included) like to carry at least two dual sim phones. The secondary may stay for a few years but the primary gets exchanged with a new model every year. I wonder how many of those older phones eventually get resold or recycled. The battery isn't even "user" replaceable these days and the way manufacturers come out with new models every month, you will probably have a tough time replacing the battery even within that year.
 
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I agree to your point, and these wireless devices are indeed thrown away a lot more commonly than repaired. But, I'm curious if this gets popular : converting them into Bluetooth speakers (
).

Even if the average person is incapable of doing this, electronic repair shops should be able to do this cheaply and quickly.
 
There is a lot more e-waste generated from various other things compared to a TWS. I don't use or will be using a TWS, but I do use a BT cable for my CCA IEMs for convenience at times. The thing is the number of mobile phone users will outnumber users of TWS by many folds. I live in rural India, where still more than 50% India lives and I haven't seen a single guy around me use TWS, even cheaper ones. The main post is about TWS and their short life span but do they consider the size of the device as well. A good TV would barely last a decade today and many users would just upgrade in 5-6 yeats. So say you had to buy 5 TWS in the decade. Compare the size of the TV with the TWS and tell me which will take more space in a landfill.
Proper e-waste segregation and recycling is a costly affair and that is why all of the developed countries outsource it to countries like China and India where pollution laws are lax to non-existent. To save this planet from the virus that is humanity is going to be a humongous task and isn't feasible until a near-extinction level event happens for humans.
 
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AINDRASIS_GUPTA said:
The only benefit you're getting with the AirPods is the lack or wires, or otherwise known as 'convenience'.

But, is that convenience is really worth it when you're responsible for damaging the environment?
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Sorry to say this but this reads more like a promo for Fiio than anything else.
Let me ask you this :
1) Do you burn electricity on an Aircon for convenience when even a fan would do?
2)Do you ensure that every electrical equipment you buy has the highest possible rating for energy efficiency?
3) Do you use public transport at all times instead of using a personal car or a bike for convenience?
I could create a list of 100 such questions - but i hope you got the drift.

And while I do respect the sentiment of being environmentally conscious - and I am not a RW climate change denial jerk (far from it actually)
But If your answer to any of the above is a Yes then am afraid to say that complaining about the environmental impact of TWSs is akin to a serial killer preaching about the sanctity of all life :)
 
Convenience is worth everything. There cannot be any price put against it. As a public-transport commuter (and even outside that) I cannot imagine using a wired earphone with mobile. Not only it's inconvenient, it's also risky.

What's unacceptable with wireless earphones/headphones though is the lack in audio quality and the factor of durability as well.
 
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