Recently the company ACER introduced its new Aspire Vero laptop, bragging that its manufacturing process used 30% of recycled plastic. However, what if the teams of this brand have already been questioned for their build qualityWill this affect its quality and especially its sustainability? We will see it.
In recent times, several manufacturers announce with great fanfare their commitment to the environment and give stratospheric and difficult to verify figures for the reduction of CO2 emissions during their manufacturing processes, among others. In the case of ACER, with the launch of its new Aspire Varo laptop, they boast that they have used at least 30% recycled plastic in its manufacture, but is that a good thing or is it bad?
Where does recycled plastic come from?
Let’s assume that not all plastics are the same, no matter how much they go into the same recycling container. When we as users throw recycled products in the trash, not all of them are usable, let alone, especially when we talk about recycling plastic which is then used to manufacture new devices.
The plastics that are used, or rather that should be used to recycle and make new products, come from what we as users bring to the so-called “clean points“; The problem is that in the plastics recycling industry, there is no quality standard, and there is no guarantee that the polymeric properties of recycled plastics are within the tolerance range allowing their reuse. ; Remember, to begin with, that even in a clean point, the plastics are not separated per se, but rather the devices are stored (we are talking about televisions, washing machines, refrigerators, etc.), generally at the outdoors, long before being transported to a treatment plant for further recycling. The different types of plastics are also not identified in any way.
What we want to tell you with this is that recycled plastics, except in a few rare cases (like, for example, a beverage manufacturer that only recycles plastics from its own containers) that are not those of ACER, have a questionable origin, widely different degrees of mixing can be used (due to the separation defects recycling plants) and full of polymeric impurities, not to mention different degrees of decomposition due to having been stored in clean points or even in the recycling plants themselves for indefinite periods of time.
The presence of impurities and different polymer plastics mixed in the recycled materials is a critical element that greatly influences the structure and mechanical properties of the product, not to mention its degree of degradation. In other words, a recycled plastic has many possibilities of being worst quality than a new one, being much more inclined to to carry, fracture and, in general, with much lower sturdiness and durability.
ACER and its recycled plastic laptops
Looking at the gallery, it can be very good to say that you launched a laptop made with 30% recycled plastic. Environmentalists will say that you are collaborating to preserve the planet and, to some extent, that is undeniable, but is it something worth having when it comes to computer products? To what extent does the fact that it is made from recycled plastic penalize the durability of the device?
If the manufacturer ACER has always been known for the questionable quality of its products, imagine what these recycled plastic laptops will look like. It should be noted that at no time has the manufacturer specified where this recycled plastic comes from or what its composition is, so it must be assumed, a priori, that it comes “from anywhere” with which they have reached an agreement, and that’s it We have commented on the current shortcomings they have in terms of separation in recycling plants.
Except on rare occasions where the manufacturer only recycles plastics from its own products (and these are usually beverage manufacturers who use their own packaging for recycling), manufacturers can only enter into agreements with factories recycling to provide them with this recycled plastic. what origin, as in the case of ACER.
In short, is a laptop made from recycled plastic worse? We can’t say for sure just because ACER didn’t say where the plastic came from, but it stands to reason that the plastics will actually be lower quality, less durable and more brittle and prone to breakage . It can therefore be said without fear of error that that doesn’t seem like a very good idea that of using recycled plastic in a laptop computer, a product that tends to be carried from place to place, knocked around and even dropped relatively easily.
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