Sourcing Ethical Electronics Components
December 8, 2020 1:42 PM Subscribe
I'm getting started with learning about electronics. This means purchasing a handful of resistors, capacitors, and other components. Can I do this ethically? Where?
I've visited sites like Digikey, Mouser, and Arrow, which have large lists of options. Some of them point out where the components are made (China, El Salvador, Mexico, Malaysia mostly it seems). What I can't figure out is: Is it Ok to buy from this or that company/supplier?
I've fallen down a rabbit hole of trying to sort out the most ethical suppliers and components I can, which also means avoiding conflict minerals as much as possible. Everything is gray and hard to pin down, and I get that distributors have manufacturers, manufacturers have suppliers, suppliers have mining operators, etc., so it can be nearly impossible to pin down exactly where something came from.
Are there manufacturers/suppliers you know of that I can purchase from directly which at least try to do the right thing? I'd like for people to be paid fairly, treated well, and for minerals to be conflict-free. Even if that's pie in the sky hope, maybe you could point me in the right direction?
Thanks.
I've visited sites like Digikey, Mouser, and Arrow, which have large lists of options. Some of them point out where the components are made (China, El Salvador, Mexico, Malaysia mostly it seems). What I can't figure out is: Is it Ok to buy from this or that company/supplier?
I've fallen down a rabbit hole of trying to sort out the most ethical suppliers and components I can, which also means avoiding conflict minerals as much as possible. Everything is gray and hard to pin down, and I get that distributors have manufacturers, manufacturers have suppliers, suppliers have mining operators, etc., so it can be nearly impossible to pin down exactly where something came from.
Are there manufacturers/suppliers you know of that I can purchase from directly which at least try to do the right thing? I'd like for people to be paid fairly, treated well, and for minerals to be conflict-free. Even if that's pie in the sky hope, maybe you could point me in the right direction?
Thanks.
This is not a helpful answer, but it's an accurate answer. I am a professional electrical engineer and work with component sourcing frequently. There is no such thing as ethical component manufacturing. There is no market for ethically designed components. There are no companies that attempt to source ethically manufactured components, as they would end up with a significant market disadvantage. The hobbyist market is insufficient to generate demand in these areas.
Tantalum capacitors and electrolytic capacitors in particular will be tricky for you. Not only are they mined from conflict areas, our world's supply of tantalum and electrolytics is running out. As a result, manufacturers are moving to ceramic capacitors. However, that's not applicable for even most use cases (ceramic capacitors are generally not tolerant to high voltages like an AC power outlet). Further, the demand for ceramics has gone up so high that no manufacturer would want to guarantee their ceramic capacitors are sourced ethically; they have a hard enough time sourcing a sufficient number already.
Semiconductor manufacturing uses chemicals that are, in general, quite hazardous. Most areas that tend to have strong workers' protections also have regulations that make semiconductor manufacturing essentially impossible. Semiconductor manufacturing didn't move outside the USA for employee pay reasons entirely - health and safety regulations made that manufacturing illegal.
If you want to preserve some concern for manufacturing ethics, I'd suggest you buy from large-scale distributors like Digi-Key, Arrow, Mouser, and Avnet. At the very least, when you buy from them, you know who is manufacturing your components. Smaller distributors, eBay or small hobbyist companies, will often randomly swap their source of components to keep their cost lower. Even if those smaller distributors disclose their manufacturers, counterfeit parts are rampant in the industry. Larger distributors have a much tighter supply chain because larger customers can and will audit the source of components - not for manufacturing ethics concerns, but to ensure product reliability and consistency. At the very least, large component manufacturers and distributors avoid the worst ethical issues if only to avoid lawsuits and government prosecution for violating human rights laws. Smaller distributors tend to cater to customers that are more interested in getting their components "no questions asked" and generally don't care where those components are from.
The one very narrow exception is you can get recycled e-waste components (example) for very particular high-value devices. In limited cases, you may be able to contract with a recycler to get a small number of components when they recycle a batch of a particular product. For instance, you may be able to get RJ-45 connectors and Ethernet switch ICs from a recycler that just received a batch of switches from a company that's disposing of their old hardware.
I think you can't beat Adafruit in terms of how they run their business
Adafruit manufactures, designs, and assembles boards in-house in NYC - which is quite impressive. However, unless something has recently changed, they make no claim about the parts that they use in their products, or about unassembled bare parts they sell.
posted by saeculorum at 2:04 PM on December 8, 2020 [37 favorites]
Tantalum capacitors and electrolytic capacitors in particular will be tricky for you. Not only are they mined from conflict areas, our world's supply of tantalum and electrolytics is running out. As a result, manufacturers are moving to ceramic capacitors. However, that's not applicable for even most use cases (ceramic capacitors are generally not tolerant to high voltages like an AC power outlet). Further, the demand for ceramics has gone up so high that no manufacturer would want to guarantee their ceramic capacitors are sourced ethically; they have a hard enough time sourcing a sufficient number already.
Semiconductor manufacturing uses chemicals that are, in general, quite hazardous. Most areas that tend to have strong workers' protections also have regulations that make semiconductor manufacturing essentially impossible. Semiconductor manufacturing didn't move outside the USA for employee pay reasons entirely - health and safety regulations made that manufacturing illegal.
If you want to preserve some concern for manufacturing ethics, I'd suggest you buy from large-scale distributors like Digi-Key, Arrow, Mouser, and Avnet. At the very least, when you buy from them, you know who is manufacturing your components. Smaller distributors, eBay or small hobbyist companies, will often randomly swap their source of components to keep their cost lower. Even if those smaller distributors disclose their manufacturers, counterfeit parts are rampant in the industry. Larger distributors have a much tighter supply chain because larger customers can and will audit the source of components - not for manufacturing ethics concerns, but to ensure product reliability and consistency. At the very least, large component manufacturers and distributors avoid the worst ethical issues if only to avoid lawsuits and government prosecution for violating human rights laws. Smaller distributors tend to cater to customers that are more interested in getting their components "no questions asked" and generally don't care where those components are from.
The one very narrow exception is you can get recycled e-waste components (example) for very particular high-value devices. In limited cases, you may be able to contract with a recycler to get a small number of components when they recycle a batch of a particular product. For instance, you may be able to get RJ-45 connectors and Ethernet switch ICs from a recycler that just received a batch of switches from a company that's disposing of their old hardware.
I think you can't beat Adafruit in terms of how they run their business
Adafruit manufactures, designs, and assembles boards in-house in NYC - which is quite impressive. However, unless something has recently changed, they make no claim about the parts that they use in their products, or about unassembled bare parts they sell.
posted by saeculorum at 2:04 PM on December 8, 2020 [37 favorites]
Buying from Digikey and Mouser and donating a similar amount to human-rights, labor, and international legal organizations has been my imperfect solution. Even tiny, ethically run, local electronics vendors are probably buying individual components as commodities. There's just no way to make money selling fair-trade capacitors. I wish there were. Until we get the equivalent of an EU RoHS requirement for labor rights, nobody's going to volunteer to make them.
posted by eotvos at 2:30 PM on December 8, 2020
posted by eotvos at 2:30 PM on December 8, 2020
You might see data sheets with a “Conflict Minerals” statement. Rather than being a useful ethical guide, this is/was merely a reporting requirement for US publicly-traded companies to report any use of gold, tin, tungsten or tantalum. Since almost all electronics has tin (solder) and gold in it, every company had to comply.
I would caution against recycled equipment. Not that it isn't a huge saving in embodied energy of manufacturing, but there's always a chance it contains lead. Lead stewardship is extremely difficult, and it can keep on poisoning people long after you've gone. Cradle to cradle ethical manufacture is complicated.
posted by scruss at 2:40 PM on December 8, 2020
I would caution against recycled equipment. Not that it isn't a huge saving in embodied energy of manufacturing, but there's always a chance it contains lead. Lead stewardship is extremely difficult, and it can keep on poisoning people long after you've gone. Cradle to cradle ethical manufacture is complicated.
posted by scruss at 2:40 PM on December 8, 2020
With the caution about recycled equipment in mind, there is enough deadstock floating around on ebay right now to supply you with most basic electronic components without contributing to any new conflict mineral production.
posted by aspersioncast at 3:28 PM on December 8, 2020
posted by aspersioncast at 3:28 PM on December 8, 2020
In the "keeping it out of a landfill" category, there's Electronicsurplus.com.
I haven't really bought from them since they had a physical store in central Cleveland, so I can't say much about their website sales & search functions. But if you are just starting and willing to deal with "close enough" for component specs (which can work just fine for many projects) and/or not buying all the parts at once, give them a shot.
posted by soundguy99 at 3:50 PM on December 8, 2020
I haven't really bought from them since they had a physical store in central Cleveland, so I can't say much about their website sales & search functions. But if you are just starting and willing to deal with "close enough" for component specs (which can work just fine for many projects) and/or not buying all the parts at once, give them a shot.
posted by soundguy99 at 3:50 PM on December 8, 2020
You might check with makerspaces and hackerspaces in your area, it's not uncommon for them to have many donated resistors, capacitors, etc on hand. No way to know where they were made of course, but if you are using things that have been sitting around unused in a drawer somewhere v.s. purchasing newly made components, you are not putting money into any supply chains.
posted by yohko at 4:53 PM on December 8, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by yohko at 4:53 PM on December 8, 2020 [1 favorite]
I would just add, as another dabbler, that desoldering your own bits and bobs from old circuit boards and appliances A) mostly limits you to through-hole components (which now all have inconveniently short legs), and B) distrusting any and every old electrolytic capacitor is probably a good idea (a lot of rehabbing of old electronics begins with testing every goddamn cap to find out which ones that aren't bulging are bad anyway).
Good sources of small motors, though.
posted by ivan ivanych samovar at 5:29 PM on December 8, 2020 [1 favorite]
Good sources of small motors, though.
posted by ivan ivanych samovar at 5:29 PM on December 8, 2020 [1 favorite]
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Another option is to re-use components pulled from broken/discarded electronics. This is a hassle to do yourself if you're just getting started since 1) identifying the components may be tricky, 2) desoldering them requires tools and skills you may not have and 3) dealing with potentially defective or out-of-spec components is a hassle you don't need right now.
However, depending where you are, there may be places that deal with some of that hassle for you. For example, in Houston, I shop for surplus parts at EPO. They're a local business, and in a lot of cases they're keeping stuff out of landfills.
posted by sourcequench at 2:04 PM on December 8, 2020 [1 favorite]