One of the more overlooked environmental concerns of the near future is the impact of the near-constant rate of electronics replenishment in the developed world. Cell phones don't recycle easily.
The Huffington Post has highlighted the hazards of electronic waste before: When you throw out an iPhone, it generally goes to a very ugly place to die.
Two filmmakers, Tom Fox-Davies and Ed Scott-Clarke, friends from school growing up in the southwest of England, teamed up to produce this short film about just how bad the culture of constant electronic upgrades is for the planet.
"Circular Cellular" will focus on Fairphone, a Dutch company that is making modular electronics that break down piece by piece, and are better suited to recycling and reuse. By allowing for reuse of material by design, Fairphone fits into the circular economy.
The circular economy refers to the idea that with the right design, consumer products can be made by repurposing resources already in existence, rather than extracting more from the natural environment.
"Both of us are environmentally conscious," Fox-Davies told HuffPost in an interview. "I formerly worked in financial services, on the natural resources side of things. I saw the impact that mining for materials can have on resources across the world."
The film's takeaway is that consumers can have an impact on the environment through "purchasing consciously," said Fox-Davies. It takes pressure from consumers to make companies more responsible about the resources they use.
"If there are already brands out there that are designing in a more responsible manner, then everyone else will follow suit," he said.
The concept won's Dell's Legacy of Good film contest, so Fox-Davies and Scott-Clarke received a grant from the company to produce the film. The full short will debut in August.