Best Sustainable Practices for Electronics

Sustainable Electronics: The PCB Revolution You Haven't Heard About The hidden environmental cost in every device you own. Printed circuit boards are silently destroying our planet. Did you know 30% of a smartphone's carbon footprint comes from its printed circuit board? PCBs are in everything electronic - from your TV to your laptop to industrial equipment. But traditional PCB manufacturing: • Uses excessive copper (prices up 5x in 40 years) • Creates toxic chemical waste • Consumes massive amounts of water • Generates significant CO2 emissions This is why manufacturers are missing sustainability targets. Enter Elephantech Inc. - a Japanese startup revolutionizing PCB production with their "pure additive" method: 1. They print copper nanoparticle ink directly onto substrates 2. No removal process means 70% less copper used 3. Water usage reduced by 95% 4. Carbon footprint cut by 75% 5. No toxic chemical processes The results are remarkable: → Fully certified PCBs meeting all industry standards → Mass production already happening in Japan → Partnerships with global brands like Logitech → Applications across smartphones, laptops, TVs, and automotive What makes this possible? Their integrated approach. Unlike competitors who focus on just one element, Elephant Tech developed everything in-house: • Nanoparticle synthesis • Metal ink formulation • Inkjet printing technology • Equipment manufacturing The environmental crisis isn't waiting. Neither should we. With copper prices rising and environmental regulations tightening, conventional PCBs will soon become unsustainable both environmentally AND economically. The technology for greener electronics exists today. Follow Climate Hive for more insights on sustainable technology innovations that are reshaping our future. #greenelectronics #sustainableinnovation #waterreduction

Quick sustainability win of the week: Start tracking peripheral purchases. You’d be amazed how few organisations do this! We've just wrapped up a review across five large orgs (each with 25,000+ employees). Every single one had the same approach with new starters: onboarding kits were given by default, including a keyboard, power blocks, mouse, headset, docking station, cables, bag, plus sometimes even phone cases. And in every case, 50 to 70% of that kit went unused. Straight into drawers, or binned after a year and straight to landfill. Often because the gear was cheap or the user already had better. There was nearly always also a constant churn of replacement accessories being ordered via internal "shops" with very little oversight. New chargers, random adapters, yet another headset. One organisation was spending over $5 million a year on peripherals alone. That’s $5 million in Scope 3 emissions and plastic waste that is totally invisible, unmanaged, and unnoticed. This isn't procurements fault, they are only following a plan, it’s actually more of a cultural and process issue. TBH, if we’re actually serious about doing something positive with sustainability, this kind of waste has to go. I'd personally recommend a simple approach like: 1) Ditch the onboarding kits, just ask what people actually need. 2) Track peripherals separately from core assets. 3) Introduce a reuse-before-rebuy policy (refurb stuff is awesome). 4) Audit what’s in stock before raising a new PO. Small fix. Big impact. Less plastic, less carbon, less water usage, more $$$$ saved. 😃

I just came across something unexpected, as engineers at the University of Glasgow have developed a circuit board using chocolate as a biodegradable substrate, with zinc replacing copper in the printed circuits.   It sounds like a curiosity, but there's a practical reason it caught my attention. Copper is essential to electronics manufacturing, and the supply gap is expected to grow by 24% by 2040. Finding alternatives isn't just about sustainability, it's increasingly about resilience.   What I find promising is that these biodegradable boards are already powering LEDs and temperature sensors at performance levels comparable to traditional methods. To me, this isn't just a lab experiment, it's something worth watching.   Across the electronics industry, I see growing interest in materials that reduce e-waste and ease pressure on critical supply chains. This work fits that pattern. It also opens the door to other biodegradable substrates, paper, bioplastics, and materials we haven't yet considered.   The future of our industry depends as much on materials breakthroughs as it does on design. I'm curious what others are seeing. Where else is unconventional thinking reshaping how we source and build? https://bit.ly/4amfAjN

Your smartphone’s carbon footprint is "locked in" before you even turn it on. 📱🌱 Most of us think being "digitally green" means deleting old emails or unplugging chargers at night. While those are good habits, they barely scratch the surface of the real issue. At Greenly, we believe a carbon footprint is just the starting point. To truly transform a business, you need to transform its culture. That’s why we built the #Climate #Academy: a suite of interactive modules designed to give every employee, from HR to IT, the expertise to drive real change! Here is a sneak peek at the insights we share in our latest module, The Carbon Impact of Electronics: 𝟏️⃣ 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝟖𝟐% 𝗥𝘂𝗹𝗲 Manufacturing a smartphone accounts for about 82% of its total lifetime footprint. The emissions aren't coming from your scrolling; they’re coming from the mines, factories, and supply chains required to build the device. 𝟐️⃣ 𝗧𝗵𝗲 "𝗥𝗲𝗰𝘆𝗰𝗹𝗲𝗱" 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗧𝗿𝗮𝗽 "100% recycled materials" makes for a great headline. But Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) data shows these materials often only reduce a new phone’s total footprint by about 6%. It’s helpful, but it isn’t the game-changer marketing suggests. 𝟑️⃣ 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗣𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿 𝗼𝗳 "𝗢𝗻𝗲 𝗠𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗬𝗲𝗮𝗿" The most sustainable device is the one you already own. Keeping a phone for 4 years instead of 2 nearly halves its annual footprint. Refurbished tech can reduce impact by up to 90%. The bottom line? Sustainability in tech isn't just about how you use your devices, it’s about how often you replace them. 💡 We provide our customers with dozens of deep-dive modules—on everything from Fast Fashion, Greenwashing to Climate Finance—to ensure climate expertise is shared by everyone, not just the sustainability lead. (You’d already be an expert on this if you were a Greenly customer! 😉) #ClimateAcademy #Sustainability #Greenly #LCA #GreenTech #CarbonFootprint #EmployeeEngagement #ClimateAction

🍄 Can #fungi power the next wave of sustainable #electronics? Researchers at Johannes Kepler Universität Linz are rethinking circuit boards with #mycelium skins—a biodegradable, eco-friendly alternative to fossil fuel-derived #materials. 🔬 Why it matters: Global #plastic consumption surpassed 400 million tonnes in 2022, with less than 9% recycled. Mycelium offers a sustainable solution by upcycling #agricultural waste into versatile electronic substrates. Unlike traditional PCBs, mycelium-based skins are #biodegradable and align with circular economy principles, reducing #ewaste while enabling material recovery. 💡 How it works: Researchers cultivated mycelium from #Ganodermalucidum on beechwood waste, treating it with chitosan to create smooth, durable surfaces. The treated skins are coated with #shellac and laminated with copper foil, enabling the creation of flexible, high-performance circuits. Mycelium circuits remain functional after 10,000 bending cycles and are fully #recyclable—mounted components can be recovered, and substrates #composted or #reused. This innovation could redefine how we design and recycle electronics, proving once again that fungi aren’t just a natural marvel but a technological game-changer. ⚡️ Learn more here: https://lnkd.in/gSeYPg-M

I wish I'd thought of this... We all see the relentless phone upgrade cycle – it's costly, frustrating, and generates mountains of e-waste. But instead of just accepting it, Fairphone engineered a brilliant business model solution that tackles it head-on. They started not as typical tech entrepreneurs, but as activists who truly fell in love with the problem – the complex, messy reality of conflict minerals, unfair labor, and environmental impact in the electronics supply chain. After pushing awareness, they made a bold strategic pivot, realizing the ultimate disruption wasn't just talking, but building the alternative themselves. Their core hack? Phones engineered for longevity through a slick, modular design. 🛠️ YOU become the repair tech, easily swapping out a screen or battery instead of buying a whole new device. This is backed by industry-leading software support spanning years. This focus on durability and repairability isn't just smart ethics; it's smart business. It directly addresses the very environmental and ethical problems they first set out to expose. Embedding responsibility into the core business model as a driver for innovation, user empowerment, AND sustainability? That’s not just making a difference; that’s fundamentally rethinking how tech should work. Wish I'd thought of that! #Fairphone #Innovation #Sustainability #Repairability #EthicalTech #BusinessModel May be of interest to: Mike Sievert Will Bodewes Ari Rabban Callie Field Mike Katz Ron Johnson John Saw

Melt the WiFi… Franziska Kerber, a student in Austria, built a WiFi router and smoke detector mostly out of paper. Even the circuit board is pulp, designed to break down at the end of its life. Instead of ending up in a bin, the device can be sent back, dissolved, and stripped for parts that get reused. She calls it PAPE. It won a Dyson Award. The logic is clear. Gadgets get outdated in a few years, yet the plastic and fiberglass inside can last for centuries. Nobody needs a thousand-year-old router. The PCB is the real shift. Normally boards are fiberglass or plastic, tough to recycle and full of metals you don’t want to waste. PAPE swaps that for compressed paper pulp, so recovery is simple instead of messy. The design is clever too. The packaging stores inside the product, it opens like a book, and the return system is as easy as dropping it in a mailbox. The challenge is obvious. Paper has to handle heat, moisture, and daily wear. Making that reliable and cheap at scale is a very different game. But the idea sticks. Don’t fight to recycle what was never designed for recycling. Start with something that’s built to vanish. Daily #electronics insights from Asia—follow me, Keesjan, and never miss a post by ringing my 🔔. #technology #innovation #sustainability #titoma

I’m pleased to share a new white paper "Scaling the Circular Economy for Electronics: Why Every Company Needs a Platform Strategy".  I co-authored this paper with Guennael Delorme, an expert in trade-in programs, reverse logistics and asset recovery value maximization. Electronics play an essential role in business productivity and innovation. You can’t run a company without a wide array of electronic devices from laptops to network equipment. However, most organizations still treat the retirement of these assets as a cost, rather than an opportunity to recover value. In this paper, we introduce the concept of the "circularity delta," a metric that highlights the gap between a company’s hardware spending and the value recovered from asset disposition. Traditional approaches typically recover only 10–15% of hardware spend, but by adopting purpose-built circular platforms, companies can increase recovery rates transforming IT asset retirement from a cost center into a revenue generator. We also explain the important role that digital recommerce platforms play in enabling the circular economy in electronics. These platforms connect buyers and sellers of used, refurbished, or recycled equipment, facilitate secure transactions, automate compliance documentation, and often offer value-added services such as repair and buyback programs. By implementing circular platform strategies, companies can reduce their environmental impact, comply with evolving regulations, and unlock new revenue streams. The white paper concludes that every business should adopt a platform strategy for electronics circularity, as this not only addresses environmental and compliance challenges but also provides significant financial and reputational benefits, ultimately turning electronic assets from a liability into a competitive advantage. Companies discussed in this paper include: AUCNET INC., Amazon Resale, Back Market, BidFTA Online Auctions, B-Stock, Callisto Group, eBay Refurbished, Flipkart, Jumia Group, NorthLadder, Recycle Global Exchange (RGX) , Shopee and Xianyu (Alibaba Group). There are, of course many other recommerce platforms that can be tapped. We would like to thank the Circular Fractional Network for their support as well as All Things Circular.  #circulareconomy #platformstrategy #reverselogistics #circularlogistics #innovation #ITAD #ewaste #electronics #businessmodelinovation Reverse Logistics Association