Can remanufacturing deal with our tons of electronic waste?

Our love of technology and consumer electronics has changed how we work and live for the better, but it is causing issues for our planet due to the amounts of electronic waste (e-waste) being generated and turning up in waste streams.

Consumer electronics is one of the fastest growing waste streams in the world, for example in 2022, a record 62 billion kg of e-waste was generated globally with only 22% being collected and recycled. In Ireland, we generated 11 million kilos of small electronic waste in 2022, the equivalent of 25 million items. This e-waste is a serious problem as it contains materials that do not breakdown easily, as well as hazardous materials. Many of these materials are also important to our manufacturing industries in Europe.

Electronic devices are turning up as waste for several reasons; poor quality design, not easily reparable, too many refresh cycles (no longer the current model), not supported by the manufacturer due to older hardware or software updates not available. All electronic devices require large quantities of energy, water and materials in their manufacture.

Click here to read original article ...