(D+E) WASTE - 100 DAYS ON YOUR WRIST, 100 YEARS ON YOUR CLOUD

waste

(D+E)

100 days on your wrist, 100 years on your cloud!

ALAPINI LEA SHENOY ROHAN STOSCHEK DOMINIK

D+E Waste

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D+E WASTE

Contents

100 days on your wrist, 100 years on your cloud

0. INTRODUCTION a.100 days on your wrist, 100 years on your cloud b.What is the waste outcome of a Fitbit wristband*? c.Timeline d.Research outline

1. EXTRACTING: ON THE QUEST FOR RARE METALS AND MINERALS a.Manganese - The forgotten mineral b.Breaking Down the Fitbit c.Mining Minerals in Mamatwan d.Finding Fitbit factories

2. EVERY BIT COUNTS: BIOMETRICS AND DATA-HOARDING a.100 days on your wrist b.Terminal gibberish c.Make every beat bit count d.The proliferation of redundant data

3. AFTERLIFE: BECOMING E-WASTE, TRANSMUTATIONS a.Afterlives: 100days later b.Landing Overseas: Agbogbloshie c.On becoming e-waste, collateral impacts on anOther’s body d.Further sinking down the Atlantic

4. GRACEFUL (D+E)GRADATIONS (VISION)

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FOREWORD With an exponential growth rate of 33% a year, e-waste comes as the most impactful type of waste on a global level. Data-waste however, despite its invisible character generally tends to pollute long before the ‘final’ landing of the components into any type of landfill. Trash computing, as a necessary corollary to most digital actions however, finds itself in the trouble of getting rid of its own bugs from the moment it becomes barely operational, as soon as it leaves the factory. In that sense it comes as an ubiquitous and rampant yet barely visible production which extends throughout the object life-cycle, user and beyond. The latest aspectresults in complex life-cycle sur-impressions that are to be analysed and studied in parallel.

This project proposes a spatial investigation into the D+E afterlives of a single digital device. E-waste as one physical outcome of the entity is to be traced in parallel to Data-waste. Such exploration, with waste as a focal point seeks to unfold and manifest the way modern-day tensions as entangled geographies come together to build the object of study. Not only does the research aims at tracing the afterlives of D+E components but also to identify and critically map out the successive transformations it undertakes. Such an approach will lead to further identification of both streams afterlives.

Léa Alapini Rohan Shenoy Dominik Stoschek

Dominik Stoschek

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D+E Waste

100 DAYS ON YOU WRIST

100 DAYS ON YOUR CLOUD

= A LOOMING E AND D WASTE ISSUE

1.

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100 YEARS ON YOUR CLOUD 100 DAYS ON YOUR WRIST

“170 million wearables have been sold in 2020 ²“ “2 Million Fitbit Accounts Were Exposed by Cybercriminals“

1.HTTPS://WWW.NCBI.NLM.NIH.GOV/PMC/ARTICLES/PMC5688726/#:~:TEXT=FORMER%20USERS%20WORE%20THEIR%20ACTIVITY,0%20 %2D%20%3E36%20MONTHS).

2. HTTPS://WWW.FITBIT.COM/GLOBAL/US/LEGAL/PRIVACY-POLICY#DATA-RETENTION 1 TINOCO, STEPHANIE. “WOMAN FEARS SHE’S BEING TRACKED AFTER FITBIT EMAIL ACCOUNT COMPROMISED.” WSOC-TV, APRIL 4, 2019. ACCESSED MAY 6, 2021. HTTPS://WWW.WSOCTV.COM/NEWS/LOCAL/LOCAL-WOMAN-FEARS-SHE-S-BEING-TRACKED-AFTERFITBIT-HACK/936767885/..

3 SUJAY VAILSHERY, LIONEL. “UNIT SALES OF SMART DEVICES WORLDWIDE BY CATEGORY WORLDWIDE FROM 2013 TO 2020 (IN MILLIONS).” ACCESSED APRIL 28, 2021. HTTPS://WWW.STATISTA.COM/STATISTICS/671053/SMART-DEVICES-UNIT-SALES-WORLDWIDE/.

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D+E Waste

Intro

INTRO

Waste and waste management is not a new topic.

It has been a societal aspect for millenia starting from the first dump sites in Crete and Athens.

Even the Mayans had their strategies to reutilize waste as infill for their buildings. Then came the first industrial revolution in the 1780s. One of the biggest moments in history calling for reforms, acts and waste management strategies due to the catastrophic rise in pollution. With the start of the second revolution in the late 19th century, technology in the form of incinerators and dump trucks came to aid the rising issue at hand. That was followed by rapid digitalization and automation and made authorities all around the world strictly implement laws and acts to reduce wastage. Now we are currently in the so-called fourth industrial revolution where data consumption as waste has also entered the stronghold.

With our growth as a society, we now have several types of waste and these can be classified as biodegradable which accounts for nearly 44% of the global waste. Recyclable is 38% and then we have categories such as e-waste, inert, composite, hazardous and special hazardous waste that are not really part of the global percentage calculations.

And these are just the physical types of waste.

But in todays connected world, there is not just physical waste. We know about physical waste being exported and dumped onto less-developed countries. We know that a huge amount of waste ends up in the ocean, forming giant garbage patches on the sea’s surfaces. We know this because it is visible, it is tangible.

Through social media and other news, we’re bombarded with pictures and images of littered beaches and dead animals with their stomachs

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filled with plastic waste.

But what about the type of waste we struggle to get a grip of? What about that type of waste which we cannot see nor touch nor get shocking images from but has an even bigger impact on our planet than we could imagine

What is the waste outcome of a single digital device? Are there any parallels to be found between the tracing of each soft/hard ware waste stream?How can we define and quantify digital waste? And subsequently, how to (re) design for the (D-E) Waste-To- Come? a. 1100 days on your wrist, 100 years on your cloud In order to answer the aforementioned questions, the Fitbit or a biometric wrist wearable was chosen as the digital device to be analysed due to it being an electronic device specifically designed to capture data. Our spatial investigation into the outcome of a Fitbit device is titled as 100 days on your wrist, 100 years on your cloud in order to emphasize the parallels found between the two waste streams.

According to reports and based on personal experience, the average user wears a fitness tracker for not more than 5 consecutive months.

Furthermore, the website of Fitbit, the brand of the most used fitness trackers, states that your data is allowed to be collected and harvested as long as your account is in existence. Hence 100 days on your wrist, 100 years in the cloud.

b. What is the waste outcome a Fitbit wristband*?

In A Billion Black Anthropocenes or Nones, Kathryn Yusoff, the professor of Inhuman Geography at the University of Queen Mary in London, elaborates on the notion of the ‘unintended by-product’ which is used as a primary theoretical framework in order to build up the research narrative. (Yusoff 2018, 35) As a case study entry point, biometric wearables seemed to be the perfect example for showcasing how e- and d-waste can form an inextricably linked unit that cannot fully be looked at separately. These devices are the biggest data hoarders available on the market due to Google’s acquisition of Fitbit and due to its function to monitor fitness. Another aspect to make note of is the ease with which the device can be hacked. Over 2 million accounts were hacked in 2019 and this can be primarily attributed to the lack of the required security in the devices hardware as a result of its small size. The aforementioned issues along with the growth of the wearable industry, especially with the fitbit, make it a looming e-waste problem.

c. TimeLine With wearables predicted to become an everyday commodity, it is of the utmost significance to get a historical understanding of the development of a smart wearable. We propose the following timeline which gives an overview of the smart wearable starting in 1982 with the “Pulsar Seiko 5” - the first watch which was able to store up to 24 digits. While the first generations of smartwatches were characterised by experimenting with different, new functions such as storing data, the smartwatch soon became a status symbol for the interconnected, metropolitan woman/man. With the introduction of bluetooth and the implementation of the first sensors, the smartwatch was soon used

as a fitness tracker. The smartwatch thereafter became a status symbol for the interconnected, metropolitan woman/man. Towards the end of the last decade, fitness trackers were more and more concerned with tracking health related data as a response to a society that attaches an everincreasing importance to its own health condition.

As health related trackers and sensors can be considered data-hoarding devices, we aim to focus on this last part of the history of smart wearables.

d. Research outline For our research we zoomed into the last decade of the timeline and conducted further analysis into the lifecycle of the health tracker. With this zoom in, the following diagram frames the research outline of our topic where each chapter places an emphasis on specific moments in the lifecycle of the wearable.

The first is Mining which covers the geopolitical and environmental implications of manufacturing biometric wearables. The second chapter is called Use and focuses on the use of the object itself with an attempt to understand d-waste as a byproduct which comes with using a biometric wearable. The last part is called the Afterlife, tracking the trajectory of d- and e-waste components allowing us to hint at possible transmutations and to decipher parallels between d- and e-waste after the disposal of the device.

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Huawei Watch

Intel Basis Peak

Exetch XS4

Huawei Watch

Arrow AI Technologies AI Watch

WiFi

Bluetopth +phone

flash

16mb

8mb

EXTERNAL MEMORY

2015 2015 2015 2015 2015

Apple Watch6

Acer Liquid Leap+

Samsung Gear S

Samsung Gear Sport 2

Fitbit Surge

Fitbit Charge HR

Computer

2mb 260kb

70Y

43.8

2015 2015 2015 2015 2014 2014 2014

Pebble Steel

Fitbit Charge

Omate TrueSmart

Moto 360

Neptune Pine

LG G Watch

LG G Watch R

Exetch XS3 Asus ZenWatch Acer Liquid Leap

Fitbit Force

Sony SmartWatch 2

SimValley PW-315.Touch,

Qualcomm Toq

500kb

16kb 37kb 8kb

D

WORL

AMERIC

A

NORTH AMERICA

2014 2014 2014 2014 2014 2014 2014 2014 2014 2014 2014 2013 2013 2013 2013, SimValley Samsung Galaxy Gear

2012, Sony SmartWatch

Z1 Android Watch-Phone

2012, Pebble E-Paper Watch

2012, I'm Watch

2012, MetaWatch

sWaP Classic

WIMM Labs WIMM One

Fashion S9110

Sony Ericsson LiveView

Samsung S91106

Allerta InPulse6

Microsoft SPOT

Hyundai MB 910

Garmin Forerunner

Casio Protrek

Sony Ericsson MBW-100

WatchPad par IBM et Citizen Seiko Ruputer Samsung SPH-WP105 Timex Datalink (en) Seiko Receptor,

Seiko RC-4000

Seiko UC-30005

Seiko RC-10005

Seiko UC-20005

Seiko Data-2000 Casio Databank Pulsar NL C01 Seiko5

LOCAL MEMORY

Year of thSmartwatch

First Fitbit tracker

2013 2013 2013 2012 2012 2012 2012 2012 2011 2010 2010 2010 2009 2009 2009 2004-2008 2003

1999

2003-2005

1998 1998 1998 1994 1990 1985 1985 1984 1984 1983

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built-in 3G modem "year of the smartwatch" bluetooth

41.8 39.8 37.8 35.8 33.8

3_Planet Fitness 2_Planet Fitness 1_Experimentation

LATIN

EU

Fighting Globesity (US Edition)

1984

1996: GPS tracking - President Bill Clinton

1982: Bpm training - Polar PE2000

1982

cloud computing

170 million wearables

Covid 19 Outbreak

2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 2019 2019 2019 2018 2018 2018 2018 2017 2017 2016 2016 2016 2015 2016 2016 2015 2015 2015 2015 2015 2015 2015 2015 2015 2015 2015

Fitbit Versa 3 APPLE WATCH Series 6 Fitbit Charge 4 Fitbit Sense APPLE WATCH SE Fitbit Versa 2 Fitbit Inspire APPLE WATCH Series 5 Fitbit Ace Fitbit Versa Fitbit Charge 3 APPLE WATCH Series 4 Fitbit Ionic APPLE WATCH Series 3 Fitbit Flex 2 APPLE WATCH Series 1 Fitbit Blaze APPLE WATCH 1st Gen Pebble Time

WiME NanoSmart

LG G Watch Urbane 4G

Veldt Serendipity

SHAMMANE

Sony SmartWatch 3

Ritot

Samsung Gear S2

Razer Nabu PHTL Hot SmartWatch Nevo de NevoWatch12

LG G Watch R2

Momentum Labs Moment

Intel Smartwatch

WRIST BANDS 4_Health

17

8.5

7.6 (USD Billion)

3-Axis Accelerometer Altimeter Ambient Light Sensor Barometer Bioimpedance Sensor Capacitive proximity sensor Compass ECG Sensor Gesture Technology Global Positioning System Gyroscope LTE (Sensor?)

Built-in mobile connection Magnetometer (=Compas) Optical Heart Rate Sensor Pulse Oximeter Temperature Sensor UV Sensor

GSR sensor

Piezoelectric sensor

Weather forecast

Sleep

Tone analysis

Respiratory rate

Skin galvanization

Body composition

Calorie burn

Blood oxygen saturation

Skin temperature

External temperature

Heart rate

Recognition of common exercises

Pace

Covered elevation

Covered distance/route

Amount of stairs climbed

Gesture recognition

Navigation

FUNCTION Atmospheric pressure

E-WASTE

STORAGE

90 Y

80Y

70Y

LIFE EXPECTANCY

AFRICA

EMBEDDED SENSORS Microphone

49.8 47.8 45.7

TIMELINE

HEALTH

E-WASTE

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2020

D+E Waste

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TIMELINE Zoom into the 90s and the birth of the first so-called smartwatches Zoom into the ‘year of the smartwatch’ This TimeLine is meant to gove an overview of smart wearables starting in 1982 with the “Pulsar NL C01 Seiko 5”, the first watch which was able to store up to 24 digits.

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VI - Africa

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D+E Waste

“Geology is a mode of accumulation, on one hand, and dispossession, on the other depending on which side of the geologic color line you end up on” Yusoff, A Billion Years Black Anthropocene or None, 47.

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Kk- Calcic Kastanozems

G- GLEYSOLS

Acrisols

Ge- Eutric Gleysols

Gh- Humic Gleysols

Cambisols

ambisols

Cambisols

La- Albic Luvisols

L- LUVISOLS

Kl- Luvic Kastanozems

K- KASTAZNOZEMS

Fx- Xanthic Ferrasols

crisols

Gd- Dystric Gleysols

Jt- Thionic Fluvisols

2.400 Kilometers

Fr- Rhodic Ferrasols

risols

1.200

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Qf- Ferralic Arenosols

Qc- Cambic Arenosols

Qa- Albic Arenosols

Ph- Humic Podzols

Oe- Eutric Histosols

Od- Dystric Histosols

Wd- Dystric Planosols

W- PLANOSOLS

Vp- Pellic Vertisols

Vc- Chromic Vertisols

V- VERTSOLS

Tv- Vitric Andosols

territ ory or sea area, o r concerning the delim it atio n of frontiers.

of FAO concerning the leg al or con stitutiona l sta tus of any coun try,

maps do n ot imply the expressio n of an y o pinio n wha tsoever o n the part

The desig nations emp lo yed and t he presentation of the m ateria l in th e

______ ____

All Right s R eserved Worldw id e

Food and Agriculture Org anizatio n of th e Un ited Nation s

(C)199 1

SOIL M AP of AFR ICA

Zo

Zg

Z-

Yy

Yt-

Yk

D+E Waste

1. Mining: On the quest for rare metals and minerals In this first chapter, the research traces waste components of the new chemico-technical dynamics of sensing and so-called ‘survival of the fittest ‘in the case of a fitbit watch. In other words the by-products of collective biometrics are assessed in the initial state of the object’s pre/ production.

CLOSING THE GAP?

3. AFTERLIFE

1. MINING AFTERLIFE TREATMENT FACILITY

2. USE

75% 75%

1. MANUFACTURING

1.(LEFT) OVERVIEW RESEARCH DIAGRAM: 1_MINING 2 (RIGHT) GLOBAL DIAGRAM OR RARE EARTH METAL MAIN PRODUCING COUNTRIES. MOST COMMON METALS IN USE FOR THE MANUFACTURING OR SMART AND DIGITAL DEVICES INCLUDING THE FITBIT.

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RARE EARTHS WORLD MINING EXTRACTION Rar earths metals on a globe, 1.

A. Lanthanum-China B. Monazites-Thailand C. Imenites-India D. Nickel-Russia E. Cerium-Australia F. Manganese-South Africa

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D+E Waste 1.

2.

MANGANESE, THE FORGOTTEN MINERAL (Top) Microscope view of Manganese particles (Bottom) Rar earths metals on a, 1.

(Right) Manganese world import and export.

1. Microscope view of Manganese particles 2. Manganese will become a highly sought element in the next 2-3 years due to its low cost and availability putting it at as a high supply risk element.

3. China imports a large amount of this high grade manganese which is used in the manufacturing of the Lithium ion battery used in the fitbit

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1. Mining: On the quest for rare metals and minerals a. Manganese - The forgotten mineral b. Breaking Down the Fitbit c. Mining Minerals in Mamatwan d. Finding Fitbit factories

“(...) an unforeseen by-product or excess of these practices and not a central tenet of them.” — (Yusoff, A Billion Years Black Anthopocenes or Nones, 30) a.Manganese - The forgotten mineral With the use of the “by-product” concept as stated by Kathryn Yusoff, the aim of this research is to foresee the unforeseen in the case of a Fitbit device. Thus in the first chapter, the research traces waste components of the new chemico-technical dynamics of sensing. Here, we assess the geopolitics of biometric devices in the pre-life of its life cycle. So what are the rare elements and minerals that are extracted for the manufacturing? What are the by-products in this stage?

Waste arises ubiquitously throughout the lifespan of a single wearable device. As digital beings we are so disconnected from the devices that we wear that we no longer see them as precious minerals and resources that sit on our wrist. This results in us being totally uninformed about the amount of waste that is produced during the mining and manufacturing process of these minerals and devices. So taking the Fitbit as a starting point for unearthing the unintentional by-product of a biometric wearable, we came across Manganese as a metal that is used in the casing and battery of the device. This is a metal of high economic importance and low supply risk due to it being the 5th most abundant metal in the earth’s crust. (Miliute-Pleine and Youhanan 2019, 9) What makes Manganese interesting is that while it is a metal, it is also a trace mineral. Every human being has around 20mg of Manganese present in their body and is also required to consume not more than 2mg of Manganese since it can result in manganism - a neurological disorder that induces tremors, facial muscle spasms and difficulty walking.(Li and Yang 2018, 2; Kwakye et al. 2015, 7519; Kim et al. 2015, 229)

3.

The high economic importance of the metal arises from the fact that it is a vital component in the steel industry where 80% of its consumption comes from converting iron ore to iron and from it being used as an essential alloy to convert iron to steel. (Cannon 2014, 1-2) Manganese is also currently being utilized in the Nickel Manganese Cobalt (NMC) battery and the LithiumIonManganese Oxide (LMO) battery where Manganese occupies a 61% composition in the NMC battery and 30% in the LMO battery. (Chen et al. 2018, 428-429) As stated before, Manganese is currently a slow supply material, but according to an Australian geoscientist from CSIRO, Manganese is set to replace cobalt in the Lithium-iron battery in the near future making it a highly sought after element in the next 2-3 years due to its low cost which would put it as a high supply risk element due to its geopolitical nature. (Vernon, 2020) Therefore, this research aims to use manganese as an entry point for the purpose of this exploration due to its increasing importance on both the geopolitical and economic level.

b.Breaking Down the Fitbit This is not to say that manganese is the sole metal that the human being should be wary of. We chose to analyze manganese from all the 22 substances that are mined and utilized in the manufacturing process of the Fitbit.

Of these 22 substances, magnesium is the main metal, constituting 54% of the Fitbit composition, utilized in the manufacturing of the magnets of the wireless charging coil. (Vo et al. 2020, 3-4) This is followed by iron, copper and silicon, constituting 18%, 10.5% and 6.7% of the Fitbit respectively. Iron and copper are utilized in the fabrication of the battery, magnets and the integrated circuit boards while Silicon is primarily utilized in making the stainless steel sheets and the integrated circuit boards. Hazardous substances and Rare Earth Minerals (REM) such as lead, arsenic, bromine and mercury make up less than 900 ppm of the wearable. (Vo et al. 2020, 3-4)

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D+E Waste MANGANESE MAIN MINING SITES World map of Manganese production sites, including production as well as production sites.

NAN

SAN FRANCISCO

I

BONDOUKOU MOANDA

MINAS GERAIS

KALAHA BASIN

SEABED NODULES

HEADQUARTERS

MINES

MANUFACTURING

HOTSPOTS

ASSEMBLY

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CHINA GUIZHOU HUNAN GUANGXI

BANSWARA SANDUR

BALAGHAT BATAM KELANTAN SINGAPORE

PILBARA

ARI N

A. Lanthanum-China B. Monazites-Thailand C. Imenites-India D. Nickel-Russia E. Cerium-Australia F. Manganese-South Africa

SEABED NODULES

HEADQUARTERS # 23

MINES

MANUFACTURING

D+E Waste RARE EARTHS WORLD MINING EXTRACTION 1. (Left) Mamatwan mine in South Africa 2. (Right) Picture of raw manganese minerals

“The unintended by-product [is] a way of avoiding responsibility for what has happened, is happening, in time.”

“This is the claim that humanity has failed to understand the violent repercussions of colonialism, industrialization, or capitalist modes of production and that these violences were an unforeseen by-product or of these practices and not a central tenet of them.”

Yusoff, A Billion Years Black Anthropocene or None, 35.

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2.

a. Manganese - The forgotten mineral b. Breaking Down the Fitbit c. Mining Minerals in Mamatwan d. Finding Fitbit factories

(Thygesen, 2017) REM such as molybdenum, gallium and germanium are amongst the 15 lanthanide metals which are primarily produced in China with the country providing 80% of the output. (Subin, 2021) These minerals utilized in our wearables are said to be highly toxic, leading to issues of cancer.

c. Mining Minerals in Mamatwan In the process of manufacturing the battery, high-grade and high purity manganese is preferred to ensure increased performance in the battery. This high-grade manganese is found in two forms - the Ferromanganese and the Silica-manganese. Both these types of manganese are produced primarily in the Mamatwan mine of the Cape Province in South Africa where 80% of the world’s high-grade manganese source is located.

(Creamer, 2020) Of all the countries that produce manganese, South Africa, Australia, Brazil and China control the market which is why manganese becomes such a highly geopolitical interest. (Sun et al. 2020, 1) What’s furthermore fascinating to point out is that China and other Southeast Asian countries, where the Fitbit battery is manufactured, import a large amount of this high-grade manganese from countries like South Africa, Australia and Brazil. China does not produce high-grade manganese and exports the majority of its low-grade manganese production to the country of the global south while it imports high-grade manganese from countries like South Africa. (Sun et al. 2020, 2) So with manganese predicted to be an in-demand metal, how do we deal with its geopolitical concentration in a few continents? If manganese is a vital element towards a low carbon future, how do we mine this resource without instigating political tension? Before addressing these questions, how much waste is produced in mining manganese for a Fitbit?

Zooming in to the Mamatwan mine in South Africa, which is home to one of the biggest smelters in the world it is estimated that 1kg of physical waste is produced in the tailings, soil, wastewater, plastics, etc in the extraction of 3.81g of Manganese produced for the Fitbit. (Thygesen,

2017) A kilogram of solid waste might not seem like much but if we look at it in tonnes this would result in a single ton of manganese producing approximately 262 tonnes of solid waste. Furthermore, assessing the carbon footprint, then mining manganese for a unit FitBit device produces 6.0kg of CO2e and when mining for a single tonne of manganese, 1,574 kg of CO2e is released into the atmosphere. (Vo et al. 2020, 8) This data emphasizes the monumental nature of the waste produced in mining minerals for the gadgets we use every day. In Reassembling Rubbish, Josh Lewpasky, the American geologist, states that 75% of the waste produced from the life cycle of an electronic device unit, comes from the pre-consumption phase. (Lepawsky, 2018) With that being the case, transparency in the mining industry is of utmost importance so that the general public is aware of the scale of the problem that arises with mining minerals in the production of our smart devices.

c. Finding Fitbit Factories When speaking about transparency in the industry, information regarding the manufacturing sites and the architectural spaces that host these processes is usually kept secret. The lack of information made it quite tough to trace the production of the battery of the biometric wearable. After further investigation, an article pointed out that it was manufactured in a Singapore-based factory, and then sent to be assembled in Indonesia and China. Furthermore, researchers found out that in the manufacturing of a Fitbit, 145 MJ of energy is utilized in the whole production process which leads to around 8kg of CO2 being released into the atmosphere.h Moreover, around 11,000 litres of water are utilized in the manufacturing of the individual components.(Vo et al.

2020, 9) The lack of transparency in the industry and constant technical innovation in the development of these devices means that the end-user of the device loses track of the resource and energy consumption. An average user ends up changing his/her gadgets every year or two thus bringing us to the question: how can we reduce these by-products in the pre-life of a biometric wearable?

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D+E Waste MANGANESE IN THE FITBIT 1.TRACING MANGANESE INCLUDED WITHIN A SINGLE FITBIT UNIT.

““Manganese is a trace mineral. It is vital for the human body, but people only need it in small amounts.” https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/325636

1.

1. The enclosure which is made out of Iron and Manganese. 2mg of Manganese is used in the production of the battery. From all the types of manganese extracted, the Ferromanganese and Silica-manganese is utilized in the manufacturing of the battery of the device

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PRODUCTION OF THE FITBIT 1.MANUFACTURING OF A FITBIT DEVICE 2.EVALUATING THE TOTAL AMOUNT OF WASTE ON THE MANGANESE MINING SITE.

1.

12:45 MAY 18

76

In the manufacturing process of a unit Fitbit device ...

145 MJ of primary energy is used.

CHEESE

BREAD

GLASS BOTTLE

TOMATO

MILK

APPLE

7.91 kg of CO2e is released into the atmosphere TOMATO

EGG

POTATO

MILK

RICE

CHEESE

CHICKEN

11,000 L of water is used.

SHEEP

2.

PIG

CHICKEN

CHEESE

RICE

BREAD

APPLE

POTATO

EGG

GWP

FURNACE ELECTRICITY FURNACE (DIRECT)

AP POCP

SMELTER

NOx

TRANSPORT

SOx

MINING & SINTERING

SOx CED PED WATER WASTE 0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

“The total GWP, AP, and POCP for 1 kg of average Mn alloy was 6.0 kg CO2e, 45 g SO2e, and 3 g C2H4e. “

REDMUND FROM BAUXITE DIGESTION

SMELTER SLAG

SPOIL

RADIOACTIVE TAILINGS HARD MINING

MIX WASTE HAZARDOUS WASTE FOR INCINERATION WASTEWATER MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE BLAST FURNACE SLAG WASTE PLASTIC OTHER

4Okg of solid waste is produced in mining 3.81g of Mn that is used in the biometric wrist wearable.

1.The manufacturing of the Fitbit 145 MJ of energy is utilized in the whole production process which leads to 7.91kg of CO2e being released into the atmosphere.

Furthermore around 11,000 liters of water is utilized in manufacturing the individual components. According to researchers, these byproducts can be reduced by upto 25-30%.2. A rough approximate of 40kg of solid waste is produced in the tailings, spoil, waste water, plastics etc in the extraction of 3.81g of Manganese produced for the fitbit. This results to a footprint of 6.0kg of CO2e 2. A rough approximate of 40kg of solid waste is produced in the tailings, spoil, waste water, plastics etc in the extraction of 3.81g of Manganese produced for the fitbit. This results to a footprint of 6.0kg of CO2e

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D+E Waste

2. Every bit counts: biometrics and dataIn this first chapter, the research traces waste hoarding This chapter focuses on the Use of the object itself with an attempt to understand the Data Waste that comes as a main by-product of this second focus on its lifecycle. Biometrics and data-hoarding (user) on one side are analysed in parallel to the possibilitiy of the object to become cloud hack open a backdoor (hacker).

CLOSING THE GAP?

3. AFTERLIFE

1. MINING AFTERLIFE TREATMENT FACILITY

2. USE

75%

1. MANUFACTURING

1.(LEFT) OVERVIEW RESEARCH DIAGRAM: 2_D-WASTE 2 (RIGHT) GLOBAL DIAGRAM OF WORLD GDP. WHO CLEANS YOUR CLOUD? WHO CLEANS IT AFTER ALL?

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HOW DIRTY IS YOUR CLOUD? world gpd on a globe, 2.

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D+E Waste

2. Every bit counts: biometrics and data-hoarding a. 100 days on your wrist b. Terminal gibberish c. Make every beat bit count d. The proliferation of redundant data

100 days on your wrist In the process of manufacturing the battery, high-grade and high purity manganese is preferred to ensure increased performance in the battery. This high-grade manganese is found in two forms - the Ferromanganese and the Silica-manganese. Both these types of manganese are produced primarily in the Mamatwan mine of the Cape Province in South Africa where 80% of the world’s high-grade manganese source is located. Of all the countries that produce manganese, South Africa, Australia, Brazil and China control the market which is why manganese becomes such a highlBreaking Down the Fitbity geopolitical interest.

What’s furthermore fascinating to point out is that China and other Southeast Asian countries, where the Fitbit battery is manufactured, import a large amount of this high-grade manganese from countries like South Africa, Australia and Brazil. China does not produce high-grade manganese and exports the majority of its low-grade manganese production to the country of the global south while it imports high-grade manganese from countries like South Africa. So with manganese predicted to be an in-demand metal, how do we deal with its geopolitical concentration in a few continents? If manganese is a vital element towards a low carbon future, how do we mine this resource without instigating political tension? Before addressing these questions, how much waste is produced in mining manganese for a Fitbit?

a. Data as “terminal gibberish.”

In his book Digital Contagions, Finnish new media theorist Jussi Parikka warns that digital viruses will eventually turn our digital memory banks into “terminal gibberish” (Parikka, 2016). This notion gives special importance to the way we cope with an ever-increasing accumulation of d-waste. Considering that through this process, unsupervised and unsecured piles of data waste are being created, hackers and spammers are offered opportunities to gain access to this data. As a consequence, companies such as Fitbit Inc. don’t rule out the possibility that data, although it is assured that collected data is only kept for the duration of the account’s

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existence, may be retained for “legitimate business interests” (Fitbit Inc., 2020) and used for disclosure to third parties, such as analytics and advertisements.

This process naturally raises questions about how biometric wearables collect our data and how this data ends up being proliferated by big-tech companies. What are the by-products in this rather short stage of the device’s usage? What kind of data are we willingly allowed to be tracked by big tech companies such as Fitbit Inc.?

Eventually, the question of how awareness of the fragility of data can be raised in order to forestall excessive data hoarding and minimize the associated risk of data abuse has to be addressed.

By accepting the terms of use from a Fitbit, the user agrees on a permanent and ubiquitous collection of data. By applying Moore’s law, it becomes evident from the example of the Fitbit that, as technology advances, more and more sensors with ever finer measuring units can be accommodated on the microchip of a Fitbit wearable. Unlike 10 years ago where the phenomenon of biometric wearables tracking every step of its users was still very rare, every fitness tracker today has an extensive array of sensors. Some of them are more common like the accelerometer which is used in more than 80 percent of the available biometric wearables, some of them are less common like a UV sensor. Especially the heart rate sensor seems to be of increasing importance since it’s the second most used sensor in biometric wearables and directly relates to the growing need of a society caring deeply about its individual well-being to collect health-related data with voluntary but constant monitoring.

Looking at the Fitbit motherboard packed with sensors and transistors, it becomes quite clear that not only one sensor is needed to collect the necessary data for telling you how fast your heart beats. In fact, no less than five sensors are required to display the simple metric of its rate.

EVERY BEAT COUNTS 1. Video snapshot showing actual collected data from on of our team member’s Fitbit during one session of running. As seen here, the fitbit keeps track of every single second, thus hoarding an astronomus amount of data waste during the lifespan of a fitbit..

2. Every ‘bit’ counts? Ad from a fitbit campain for FitbitCharge2

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D+E Waste EVERY BIT ON A MAP 1.STRAVA LIVE ‘HEAT MAP’ HTTPS://WWW.STRAVA.COM/ HEATMAP#7.00/-120.90000/38.36000/UNDEFINED/ UNDEFINED

1.Strava heat maps from the strava app. This map was generated according to the shared live location of runners across the globe allowing us to live vizualise the amount of D-waste in the becoming generated by them.

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D+E Waste DATA PROLIFERATION ANALYSIS 1. MAPPING ACTORS INVOLVED IN DATA TRANSFER, PROCESS AND PROLIFERATION.

1.

2.

1.The fitbit doesn’t work without the help of other devices. Locally stored on three different devices, this would already mean a tripling of data..

2. In most cases, the raw data collected by the fitbit is first sent to other servers to process and analyse them.

That means leaving the sphere in which one still have the control over their data and sending them to data centers with unknown locations, again leading to a multiplication of that data.

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3.

XX gb

4,8 300

Wrist

300 MB

of Fitbit data, acquired over a period of 1 years

erre

d D-

e

Intruding systems such as hackers or spammers can act and attack at various stages of the data transfer and proliferation process. Thus, the more actors and stages are involved, the higher is the chance that personal data becomes subject to abuse.

XX GB

gb

mb

REGULATED SPHERE

USER

Third-party systems such as services, apps for smartphones and wearables, and programs for computers can be developed and maintained by external entities to provide specific functionalities.

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1,2 GB PERSONAL SPHERE In the personal sphere, data is send from the wrist wearable to local devices such as a smartphone or a laptop via Bluetooth or Wifi. Stored locally, the user maintains the overview of the collected data.

4,8 GB CONTROLLED SPHERE Proprietary systems can be found as wearable devices, apps for smartphones and computers, and cloud services. These systems are provided and maintained by wearable vendors to collect users’ data, to perform analytics and to provide data and analytic results to users and to authorized third-parties. Third-party systems such as services, apps for smartphones and wearables, and programs for

3. Servers are not the end part in this journey, other third parties might want to have access to one’s data, let it be for analytics, advertisement or even for a consultation with your doctor about your health state. Multiple, partially unknown actors are now coming into play which eventually lead to the ultimate loss of control and once again to a proliferation of data and countless redundant copies being generated which finally end up as data waste on servers, taking up space and energy.

4. The more actors have access to the data, the more options are offered to hackers to attack cloud services.

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D+E Waste

2. Every bit counts: biometrics and datahoarding

b. Make every beat bit count Fitbit Inc.’s self-imposed slogan ‘Make every beat’ count is a subtle, but effective attempt to convey to the customer that - assuming the monitoring of his healthrelated data is literally an affair of the heart - an evaluation of the state of health is only possible if a permanent and uninterrupted data collection and analysis take place, which ensures that the user can be eased into a sense of security by the Fitbit at any time.

According to our own research, a Fitbit generates approximately 300 MB of data per year during average use. After downloading and examining the collected data, the protocols show that Fitbit keeps indeed track of every single second, thus hoarding an exorbitantly high amount of data waste during Fitbit’s lifespan. As it can be read in Fitbit’s privacy policy, the collected data is not only shared with other devices the user utilizes for accessing and displaying the metrics but is also transferred to “corporate affiliates, service providers, and other partners” (Fitbit Inc., 2020). Since this only reflects a small part of where collected data and other information such as account names, IP addresses, etc. are being sent, questions such as the following arise: What route does our data (waste) travel and where does it end up? How many redundant copies are being generated during this lifecycle?

c. Proliferation and data redundancy Once the raw data is collected by the Fitbit, it is sent to other servers where it is processed and analyzed, thus leaving the domain of the user and bringing about the multiplication of that data. With every personal device connected to a Fitbit wearable, it again naturally adds up to the proliferation of data. Locally stored on three different devices, this would already mean a tripling of data. With the data now in the public domain, multiple, partially unknown actors start to harvest this data for analytics, advertisement, and other services, thus creating dozens of redundant copies.

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While accidental data redundancy can be the result of complex backup processes or inefficient coding, intentional data redundancy is used to leverage the multiple occurrences of data for disaster recovery and quality checks. Furthermore, intentional redundancy extends the data value chain beyond its initial purpose of providing the user with insightful analysis of the data collected. With more and more actors coming into the fray, this naturally opens a backdoor for hackers to illegally mine this data.

With data centres as breeding grounds for dataproliferation and redundancy, are data centres the new global landfill? Is the business model of using a central repository to store information inefficient and thus outdated due to limited storage capacities, huge energy consumptions, and an accompanying high emission of CO2 and exuberating maintenance costs?

CHARTING HEART RATE SENSOR OF A FITBIT 1. MAP OF SENSORS INVOLVED IN THE PROCESS OF DISPLAYING THE USER’S HEARTRATE

SE

%

ME TE R

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Involved sensors in the measuring and processing of the user’s heart beat rate: 1. ECG Sensor 2.Temperature sensor 3. GSR Sensor 4. Optical Rate Sensor 5. Bio-Impedance Sensor 6. Piezoelectric Sensor

ON TI IA

AD RR

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RAT

E

D+E Waste

3. Afterlife: Becoming e-waste, transmutation In this last part, a jump in the lifecycle is operated in order to focus on the object’s D and E components after disposal. To what extent does it induce becoming e-waste? What transmutations does it perform at this state?

CLOSING THE GAP?

3. AFTERLIFE

1. MINING AFTERLIFE TREATMENT FACILITY

2. USE

75%

1. MANUFACTURING

1.(LEFT) OVERVIEW RESEARCH DIAGRAM: 1_AFTERLIFE 2 (RIGHT) HEAD OF A WORKER ON THE GLOBE, ASSESSING THE WORKERS ENVIRONMENT AS EXPOSED TO THE RELEASE OF TOXIC MANGANESE BY-PRODUCTS AMONGST OTHERS.

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BECOMING E-WASTE_TRACING TOXIC BY-PRODUCTS Head on a globe, 3. tracing toxic metal compounds on the human head of an e-dismantler.

1. Once the original user stops getting rid of it’s calories, acceleratig the cleasning of its own body,( it be E or D) the Mn by-product becomes part of a viral infection network. A monodirectional form of new toxic disease is spread to the Other to partially become insensitive ior deprived os cuch facultie./ bring in the history of manganese source/ “Spatial assessment of soil contamination by heavy metals from informal electronic waste recycling in Agbogbloshie”, Ghana Environ Anal Health Toxicol. 2016;31 (0): e2016006-0.

PUBLICATION DATE (WEB): 2016 MARCH 17 (ORIGINAL ARTICLE)

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D+E Waste

3. Afterlife: Becoming e-waste, transmutation a. Afterlives: 100days later b. Landing Overseas: Agbogbloshie c. On becoming e-waste, collateral impacts on anOther’s body d. Further sinking down the Atlantic

a. Afterlives: 100days later About a hundred days later, the watch is being disposed of. We based the rest of the study according to the MIT sense lab experimentations. (MIT senselab) What transmutations does manganese perform at the socalled ‘grave state’ of the object? To what extent does it induce becoming e-waste to some extent?

To get a partial answer to the abovementioned question, we first decided to dismantle the device by ourselves, in order to get a practical sense of the nature of the labour it requires; both on a technical and temporal level. It is important to note too that such a procedure comes first in the conventional e-waste recycling processes.

To perform the partial teardown of the object as the tools we disposed of didn’t let us separate the parts fully, we use our hands, palette knife pliers as well as a screwdriver. The entire procedure will take us about 15 to 20 minutes in total. Looking at the physical parts of the element, and considering the dimensions of such an object: the tracker itself measures just 37 x 12.6mm means that such an enterprise turned out to be quite laborious and fragmented at the same time. In the following description of the process, we only highlight elements that contain significant levels of Manganese, such identification helping us to further trace those specific parts through their afterlives.

The easiest parts to take apart turned out to be each of the two silicone wristbands, with the steel buckle containing extracts of the precious mineral. More time and tools are needed to take apart the screen and electronic components enclosure that contains most of the manganese concentration.

After this last stage, it takes us about four minutes to extract the lithium base battery as well as the PBC trackers from the main enclosing element. Last but not least, the inner elements are unscrewed and taken out using the pliers as well as the metallic buckle.

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Once these main elements containing Manganese are released, their multi-layered toxicities are traced and looked into more deeply. Where does e-waste actually end up once the first step of the dismantlement has been operated?

b. Landing Overseas: Agbogbloshie Due to the laborious nature of the dismantling work required as previously stressed, the watch is illegally shipped by sea (Pitron, 2020, p.54). Once released from its enclosure parts, the toxic properties of the unforeseen physical by-product start distorting the e-dismantler’s body. An alien Other becoming e-waste.

Thus perpetuating to some extent, the clean/dirty colonial dialectics, the laboring black bodies as ather toxic by-product in the becoming. Once the original user stops getting rid of its calories, it starts activating the cleansing of its alien alter ego. The Manganese by-product becomes part of a viral infection network. A monodirectional form of a new toxic disease is spread, that is to partially become insensitive and deprived of its own sensing faculties. To what degree does the body’s self -consciousness, (as stressed in the study of the Fitbit), does induce the Other to become partially non-human, that through the release of its toxic counterparts?

- Agbogbloshie e-waste landfill, Accra Ghana.

The previously identified and separated components containing Manganese are stretched and mapped on the Agbogbloshie site, the biggest illegal e-waste trading and dismantling site in west Africa.

We assume that the object is being dismantled by a local e-dismantler according to the previously identified steps.

As the watch elements are not carefully recycled, and illegally dumped on-site, they respectively start transmuting. One could argue that this is also where EVERY physical BIT starts to truly COUNTS, further taking its full meaning.

The identified parts of the device is being processed and traded in the scrap processing area (2).

A part of the enclosure leaves the area for another identified area (1), while the last ones are being traded. (2)

c. On becoming e-waste, collateral impacts on anOther’s body To identify how these components transmute releasing toxic manganese by-product, we further take you on a journey through the body of one identified worker (Caravanos et al., 2011, p.16 ) processing scrap, seated by the river.

Three stages are identified in the transformation of Manganese which we further identified as identical to the steps through which one becomes e-waste. (Vergès, 2019, p.1) In the form of smoke, dust, and liquid particles that we define and research as entangled phenomenons.

“While rare minerals (coltan, gold, wolframite) are dug out in the People’s Republic of Congo to make the tiny capacitors in cell phones, these same minerals end up dumped on toxic e-waste sites like Agbogbloshie in Ghana. African earth is the beginning and end of the machines of planetary-scale computation.”

https://verticalatlas.hetnieuweinstituut.nl/ennetworksafrica

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D+E Waste DISMANTLING THE FITBIT

The device is dismantled by the team in about 15min, using hands, palette knife, pliers and a screwdriver.

The idea is to focus on seperating elements containing Manganese in important quantities.

1.

3.

1. The silicone wristband, the steel buckle containing some Mn are first taken apart.

2. The screen and electronic components enclosure containing most of the manganese.

3. The lilthium battery and PBC trackers are now out.

The interior elements are unscrewed and taken out using the pliers.

4.At last the metalic buckly is removed.

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2.

4.

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D+E Waste AGBOGBLOSHIE, ACCRA GHANA

Fitbit components are streched on site. Everything is being processed and traded in the scrap processing area; a part of the enclosure leaves the area while another is being traded..

B

A. Agbogbloshie, landfill.Components containing Manganese are stretched and mapped on site.

B.It is assumed that the object is being dismantled by an e-dismantler according to the previously identified steps.

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Strap buckle

Rubber wrist strap

A OLED-display

Screen bezel

Optical sensor

PCBA bracket

Motherboard

Button post Metal sticks Meta screws

Lithium-polymer battery

Metal enclosure

Gasket for screen bezel

Plastic enclosure

Charging unit with adhesive holds

Elastomer

Rubber wrist strap

Sheet metal latches

Buckle latch

Buckle belt

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D+E Waste

Cu

Cu

BECOMING E-WASTE

Cu

Al

1.2 mg/m3

Fe

Journey through the body of the e-dismantler. Tracing toxic by-products at the bodily scale.

Fe

Fe

Fe

6.7 mg/m3

Cu

Pb

C

ic Tox

Cu

Mn

Fe

Pb Mn

D

Cu

Mn Fe

297 mg/kg

t dus

E Mn Mn

G4

G3

Mn

G5

a’

G1-1

G2

F G2 500

1000

D# 46

Soil

a

«On day one of sampling, the site was scattered with scrap metal, engine parts, computer parts, circuit boards and tangled wires filled with valuable copper.

15000

D

E

F

1000

Soil

a

15000

«On day one of sampling, the site was scattered with scrap metal, engine parts, computer parts, circuit boards and tangled wires filled with valuable copper.

The weather was hot and dry and the air filled with smoke from the nearby burning of wires, parts of refrigerators used to fuel the fires, and melting plastic from computer monitor shells.»

20000 st

wa

e

il ep

ic tox

ll

spi

River/ Atlantic Sea

b’ Mn nodules

metallic coumpounds in sea water hydrogenous nodules

3500

Mn

Sediment lice through a manganese nodule: ` Over millions of years minerals are deposited around a core

# 476500

D+E Waste

3. Afterlife: Becoming e-waste, transmutation a. Afterlives: 100days later b. Landing Overseas: Agbogbloshie c. On becoming e-waste, collateral impacts on anOther’s body d. Further sinking down the Atlantic

Neurotoxicity- Smokes The first two layers correspond to the brain area, the breathing zone of the worker.

Once exposed to the fires of the pieces heavily charged with Manganese, the emitted smoke becomes highly toxic. Indeed, historically Manganese has been regulated within the past hundred years in Western industrial countries, as it was responsible for the development of parkinsonian disturbances and neuro-disorders as one of the consequences to regular exposure. A direct attack into the nervous system is identified from the basal ganglia to the substantia nigra of the brain. (Blanc, 2018, p.64)

Breathing zone Workers at these sites are also exposed to dust via inhalation, ingestion, and dermal contact, which may contain harmful levels of heavy metals which result in abnormal lung concentrations which can be detected afterwards.

Soil and dust: liquid particles As the dust finally reaches the ground, the toxic Mn spill starts spreading to the nearby river directly connected to the Atlantic sea. Tracing a section reveals high concentrations of toxic lead (Caravanos et al., 2011, p.16).

d. Further sinking down the Atlantic - Sea The metallic compounds slowly continue their journey together with the toxic spill it runs into. From the ground to the neighbouring river dissolving itself more and more as it reaches the state on the invisible. As it enters the sea, the dissolved manganese mineral meet other components and get into further sedimentation processes. Eventually, they will reach the seadbed some -3500 to 6500 meters undersea level.

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Once the elements reach a certain stable point, they may encounter further core elements such as a shark tooth and will start aggregating into another entity. As other partially man-made new types of geological entities such as plastiglomerates (Robertson, 2016), such formation will eventually turn into so-called Manganese nodules. (Mukhopadhyay et al., 2019, p.1) At this point, Manganese nodules are considered to be the most important deposits of metals and other mineral resources in the sea today, which result in current major geopolitical disputes around post-mining sites. one could argue that the violent above the-ground mining enterprise is to be transferred into the sea, with other site condition yet all the more violent acts of extractions.

sm

Neurotoxicity.

Such chronic exposures may progressively extend the site of manganese deposition and toxicity from the globus pallidus to the entire area of the basal ganglia, including the substantia nigra pars compacta involved in Parkinson's disease.

putamen

Mn

toxic Mn concentration in different brain areas basal ganglia

A

A

substantia nigra

globus pallidus

Mn Mn

Mn

Mn Mn

lungs

BECOMING E-WASTEModular Journey the body of one identified Agbobloshie worker. Toxic Manganese by-product disseminates in 3 main layers: in the form smoke, dust and liquid particles.

The first two layers correspond to the brain area, breathing zone of the worker.

Thus there are 4 stages are identified in Becoming e-waste.

oke

brain

A

Breathing zone

B

Worker's Breathing Zone results for Heavy Metals in mg/m3

Al Cu

Al Cu

Fe

Fe

5.5mg/m3 Cu

Al

1.2 mg/m3

Fe Cu

Fe

6.7 mg/m3

Cu

Pb

Pb

Mn C

ic Tox

Cu

Mn

Fe

Mn Fe

297 mg/kg

t dus Mn Mn

G4

G3

Mn

G5

a’

G1-1

G2 G2 500

1000

D

Soil

a

15000

«On day one of sampling, the site was scattered with scrap metal, engine parts, computer parts, circuit boards and tangled wires filled with valuable copper.

The weather was hot and dry and the air filled with smoke from the nearby burning of wires, parts of refrigerators used to fuel the fires, and melting plastic from computer monitor shells.»

20000

ste

wa

e

pil

ic tox

E

l

spil

River/ Atlantic Sea

b’ Mn nodules

A. Neurotoxicity B. Breathing zone C. Toxic dust D. Soil E. Waterways F. Sediments

metallic coumpounds in sea water hydrogenous nodules

3500

Mn

F

Sediment lice through a manganese nodule: ` Over millions of years minerals are deposited around a core

6500

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D+E Waste FOUR STAGES OF BECOMING

smoke, dust, water and seabed mineral as the toxic becoming of the fitbit’s many unforeseen by-product are vizualilzed across this spread.

smokes

dust

waterways

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section of a manganese nodule

atlantic seabed

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D+E Waste WORLD SEABED MAP

mapping the ocean sedbed

1. Agbobloshie, Accra. Ghana

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LAT 5.603717/LONG -0.186964

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D+E Waste

LITTERATURE

PART 01: MINING - ON THE QUEST FOR RARE METALS AND MINERALS Cannon, William F. 2014. Manganese: it turns iron into steel (and does so much more). (Reston, VA: U. S. Geological Survey). http://pubs. er.usgs.gov/publication/fs20143087.

Chen, Wei, Guodong Li, Allen Pei, Yuzhang Li, Lei Liao, Hongxia Wang, Jiayu Wan, Zheng Liang, Guangxu Chen, Hao Zhang, Jiangyan Wang, and Yi Cui. 2018. “A manganese–hydrogen battery with potential for grid-scale energy storage.” Nature Energy 3 (5): 428-435. https:// doi.org/10.1038/s41560-018-0147-7.

Creamer, Martin. 2020. “South Africa has 22 operating manganese mines.” Accessed June 4, 2021. https://www.miningweekly.com/ article/south-africa-has-22-operating-manganese-mines-amaranthcx--2020-09-28 Kim, G., H. S. Lee, J. Seok Bang, B. Kim, D. Ko, and M. Yang. 2015. “A current review for biological monitoring of manganese with exposure, susceptibility, and response biomarkers.” J Environ Sci Health C Environ Carcinog Ecotoxicol Rev 33 (2): 229-54. https://doi.org/10.1080/1059 0501.2015.1030530.

Kwakye, Gunnar F., Monica M. B. Paoliello, Somshuvra Mukhopadhyay, Aaron B. Bowman, and Michael Aschner. 2015. “Manganese-Induced Parkinsonism and Parkinson’s Disease: Shared and Distinguishable Features.” International journal of environmental research and public health 12 (7): 7519-7540. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph120707519.

Lepawsky, Josh. 2018. Reassembling Rubbish: Worlding Electronic Waste. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.

Li, Longman, and Xiaobo Yang. 2018. “The Essential Element Manganese, Oxidative Stress, and Metabolic Diseases: Links and Interactions.” Oxidative medicine and cellular longevity 2018: 7580707-7580707. https://doi. org/10.1155/2018/7580707. https://pubmed.

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ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29849912 Miliute-Pleine, Jurate and Lena Youhanan.

2019. E-Waste and Raw Materials: From Environmental Issues to Business Models.

Stockholm: IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute.

Subin, Samantha. 2021. “The new U.S. plan to rival China and end the cornering of the market in rare earth metals.” Accessed June 4, 2021.

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/04/17/thenew-us-plan-to-rival-chinas-dominance-inrare-earth-metals.html#:~:text=China’s%20 rare%20earths%20dominance&text=They%20 include%20metals%20like%20dysprosium,motors%2C%20turbines%20and%20medical%20 devices.

Sun, Xin, Han Hao, Zongwei Liu, and Fuquan Zhao. 2020. “Insights into the global flow pattern of manganese.” Resources Policy 65: 101578. https://doi.org/https://doi. org/10.1016/j.resourpol.2019.101578. https:// www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/ S0301420719306774.

Thygesen, Kristina. 2020. “An average day in a large-sized copper mine.” Accessed June 4, 2021. https://www.grida.no/resources/11419.

Vernon, Chris. 2020. “The future of the battery supply chain.” Accessed June 4, 2021. https:// research.csiro.au/resourcesandsustainability/ ausimm-li-battery-metals-2020/ Vo, Huynh Quang Nguyen, Joël Kattelus, Sunil Karki, and Shahid Shopneel. 2020. “Life Cycle Assessment Summary Samsung Galaxy Watch.”

Yusoff, Kathryn. 2018. A Billion Black Anthropocenes or None. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.

PART 02: EVERY BIT COUNTS Maher, Carol, Jillian Ryan, Christina Ambrosi, and Sarah Edney. “Users’ Experiences of Wearable Activity Trackers: A Cross-Sectional Study.” BMC public health 17, no. 1 (2017) Tenzer, F. “Sales of Wearables Worldwide

by Manufacturer from 2014 to 2020.” Accessed May 21, 2021. https://de.statista.com/ statistik/daten/studie/515716/umfrage/absatz-von-wearables-weltweit-nach-hersteller/.

Kousoulas, Stavros. “Shattering the Black Box: Technicities of Architectural Manipulation.”

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PART 03: AFTERLIFE: BECOMING E-WASTE, TRANSMUTATIONS

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Vergès, Françoise. “Capitalocene, Waste, Race, and Gender.” E-Flux 100 (May 2019).

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and the recognition of its neurotoxicity, 18371936. Neurotoxicology, 64, 5–11. https://doi. org/10.1016/j.neuro.2017.04.006 Caravanos, Jack, Edith Clark, Richard Fuller, and Calah Lambertson. “Assessing Worker and Environmental Chemical Exposure Risks at an E-Waste Recycling and Disposal Site in Accra, Ghana.” Journal of Health and Pollution 1, no. 1 (February 2011): 16–25. https://doi. org/10.5696/jhp.v1i1.22.

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