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Sustainable Electronics Challenges and Opportunities
Citation:
Sahle-Demessie, Endalkac. Sustainable Electronics Challenges and Opportunities. To be Presented at Technical Workshop "Environmentally Driven Value Creation", Indianapolis, Indiana, June 04, 2019.
Impact/Purpose:
Electronic waste or e-waste is one of the fastest growing areas of the waste stream with global supply system and is increasing at a much higher rate than all other waste streams. Sustainable electronics requires more than end-of-life management practices. It requires design for environment cleaner production, extended producer responsibility, standards and labeling, product stewardship, recycling and remanufacturing are some of the practices
Description:
Electronic technologies have been increasing throughout the previous four decades. Americans currently own more than 3 billion electronic products that have become critical to their way of life and the growing economy. As the average use-life of electronic products gets shorter; however, obsolete products are stored or discarded at alarming rates. This creates new challenges in the management of electronic waste (e-waste). Americans discard more than 400 million electronic items per year; less than 20 percent is recycled, while 85 percent ends up in landfills. Approximately two-thirds of the electronic devices removed from service remain functional. Although E-waste represents only two percent of America’s trash in landfills, it contributes 70 percent of all toxic waste. Most electronic products contain hazardous heavy metals, plastics, brominated flame retardants, barium and beryllium, and valuable elements such as precious metals and rare earth elements. The risks to human health associated with placing such products into landfills or incinerators where these hazardous elements can enter the air and water streams are high. Hence, there is increasing challenge of reducing the use of virgin materials, recovering useful elements from the waste and protecting human health and the environment from the harmful effects associated with the unsafe handling and disposal of these products. Scientific research and technological developments are needed for the designing of greener electronics that minimize environmental impacts across the entire lifecycle of the products and promotes consumer awareness. Electronics design and manufacturing that is innovative, flexible and pragmatic could transform the industry’s energy savings, reduce emissions and conserve resources. Innovative solutions that integrate electronics manufacturing and recycling would allow Americans to sustainably manage the electronics used today, while simultaneously promoting novel and innovative technologies of the future to meet market challenges.