BACCALAURÉAT GÉNÉRAL

Enseignement de spécialité
« Langues, littératures et cultures étrangères et régionales »
ANGLAIS, MONDE CONTEMPORAIN

Épreuve écrite de terminale

DURÉE DE L’ÉPREUVE : 3H30

Le candidat traitera au choix le sujet 1 ou le sujet 2.

Répartition des points :

Synthèse 16 points

4 points
Traduction

L’usage d’un dictionnaire unilingue (non encyclopédique) est autorisé.

Sujet 1
Le sujet porte sur la thématique « Environnements en mutation »

Partie1 (16 points)

Prenez connaissance des documents A, B, C et D et traitez le sujet suivant en anglais :

Write a commentary about the 4 documents (about 500 words) :

Taking into account their specificities and viewpoints, write about the production of e-waste worldwide
and its consequences. Explain how consumers may lose or gain control over this form of pollution.

Partie 2 (4 points)

Traduisez l’extrait suivant du document C en français :

In a world-first move last month, France began requiring makers of certain electronic
devices, including smartphones and laptops, to tell consumers how repairable their
products are. Manufacturers selling these devices in France must give their products a
score, or “repairability index,” based on a range of criteria, including how easy it is to
take the product apart and the availability of spare parts and technical documents.

The repairability index represents part of France’s effort to combat planned

obsolescence. It’s a transition to a more circular economy where waste is minimized.
But it also has global implications. Repair advocates say that the index will serve for
other nations weighing similar regulations, help consumers make better choices, and
hopefully incentivize companies to manufacture more repairable devices.
DOCUMENT A

Global electronic waste up 21% in five

years, and recycling isn’t keeping up by
Vanessa Forti - July 10th, 2020

Each year, the total amount of electric and electronic

equipment the world uses grows by 2.5 million tonnes.
Phones, radios, toys, laptops – if it has a power or battery
supply it’s likely to join a growing mountain of “e-waste”
after use.

In 2019 alone, the world generated 53.6 million tonnes of e-waste. That’s about 7.3 kilograms
per person. Asia produced the lion’s share – 24.9 million tonnes – followed by the Americas
(13.1 million tonnes) and Europe (12 million tonnes), while Africa and Oceania generated 2.9
and 0.7 million tonnes respectively.

By 2030, the global total is likely to swell to 74.7 million tonnes .This makes it the world’s fastest
growing domestic waste stream, fuelled mainly by more people buying electronic products with
shorter life cycles and fewer options for repair.

These products can help improve living standards, and it’s good that more and more people
can afford them. But growing global demand is outpacing our capacity to recycle or dispose of
electronic products safely. Once they’re obsolete and discarded, these products can end up
accumulating in the environment, polluting habitats and harming people and wildlife.

Only 17.4% of 2019’s e-waste was formally collected and recycled.

Without a reliable system of waste management, toxic substances contained in e-waste, such as
mercury, brominated flame retardants, chlorofluorocarbons and hydrochlorofluorocarbons, are
more likely to be released into the environment and harm the people who live, work and play in
e-waste scrapyards.

Mercury is used in computer monitors and fluorescent lighting, but exposure to it can cause
brain damage. We estimated that about 50 tonnes of mercury is contained in these flows of e-
waste that end up in the environment each year.

E-waste doesn’t just pose a health risk though. It also contributes directly to global warming.
Dumped temperature-exchange equipment, found in fridges and air conditioners, can slowly
release greenhouse gases. About 98 million tonnes are thought to leak from scrapyards each
year, equivalent to 0.3% of global emissions from the energy sector.

https://theconversation.com/global-electronic-waste-up-21-in-five-years-and-recycling-isnt-keeping-up-141997
DOCUMENT B

How manufacturers make it impossible to repair your electronics, by

Irina Ivanova - January 15, 2021
Electronics makers this week are unveiling a slew of consumer gadgets designed to make life
cleaner, safer, more comfortable, more entertaining and even more eco-friendly.
But there's a downside say consumer advocates: most of the products are challenging, if not
impossible, for most people to fix, and are likely to last just a few years before becoming e-
waste.

"It's getting harder for people to buy things that are repairable. The problem is getting worse,
much worse," said Gay Gordon-Byrne, executive director of the Repair Association, a small
lobbying group that advocates for independent repair shops.

"Ten years ago you could slide off the back of the phone, and pop out the battery," said Olivia
Webb, spokesperson for iFixit, a parts retailer and online community dedicated to repair. "Now,
components are adhered with screws, some of them are straight-up glued in. People don't want
you to replace your battery — they want you to buy a new phone. I don't know how we as
consumers got to the point where we thought it was normal and acceptable to spend a
thousand dollars on a smartphone every two years !’’

"Plenty of computers now come with components glued together. With laptops, both the
memory and the hard drive now are oftentimes incorporated into the motherboard. They are
not these distinct elements anymore that you could swap out.
You're hitting a point where you cannot upgrade your technology
anymore. That is another way of forcing people to buy a new machine
instead of upgrading an old machine, " said Olivia Webb.

Apple in 2011 pioneered the use of five-pointed screws for iPhones,

which couldn't be opened with a standard screwdriver. Disassembling the iPhone 12 requires
four different types of screwdrivers, according to Hugh Jeffreys, an advocate of the Right to
Repair movement.

Manufacturers often say that such measures are for the customer's protection.
"Even with the correct tools, consumers and independent repair shops have limited knowledge
of a battery and the product's sophisticated safety features, which creates an inherent risk
during repair and when the product is being used after repairs are completed," the group said
in a letter to the Federal Trade Commission.

We could be doing a lot better in our employment and our trade deficit if we just stopped
letting manufacturers pretend that they're the only people capable of fixing their products.

Repairing rather than replacing gadgets usually saves their owners money. But sometimes new
electronics are priced so cheaply that repairing them doesn't make financial sense. Such is the
case with printers. The manufacturer makes a healthy profit on ink or toner cartridges. Indeed,
new printers are so cheap that consumers often avoid replacing the toner altogether. People
just throw out the printer and get a new one instead of replacing the cartridge.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/electronics-product-
repair-manufacturers/
DOCUMENT C

Why France’s New Tech

‘Repairability Index’ Is a Big Deal
by Maddie Stone - Feb 20, 2021

‘Liberté, égalité, reparabilité’

In recent years, electronics of all shapes and sizes have become more difficult to fix due to a
combination of design choices and software locks that often require proprietary manufacturer
tools to get past. The cost and complexity of repair means that many consumers don’t even try
to fix old electronics, instead discarding them for new ones that take additional energy and
resources to produce. In 2020, the French government estimates that only 40 % of broken
electronic devices in the country were repaired.

To boost that percentage, France passed an anti-waste bill last year mandating that electronics
manufacturers make a repairability index visible on their products. The index, which initially
applies to smartphones, laptops, TVs, washing machines, and lawnmowers, is presented as a
score out of 10, with a higher number indicating a more repairable device.

The French repairability index labels

In a world-first move last month, France began requiring makers of certain electronic devices,
including smartphones and laptops, to tell consumers how repairable their products are.
Manufacturers selling these devices in France must give their products a score, or “repairability
index,” based on a range of criteria, including how easy it is to take the product apart and the
availability of spare parts and technical documents.

The repairability index represents part of France’s effort to combat planned obsolescence. It’s a
transition to a more circular economy where waste is minimized. But it also has global
implications. Repair advocates say that the index will serve for other nations weighing similar
regulations, help consumers make better choices, and hopefully incentivize companies to
manufacture more repairable devices.
“It’s a big step in the right direction,” said Ugo Vallauri,member of the European Right to Repair
Campaign.

https://www.wired.com/story/frances-new-tech-repairability-index-is-a-big-deal/

DOCUMENT D
https://wrwcanada.com/en/get-involved/resources/e-waste-themed-resources/e-waste-facts