Why is electronics recycling still not successful enough?

About the episode

I always hand in my broken electronics, but has anything been done with them? In a time of material scarcity, you would hope so, but recycling these types of products is very complicated.

This is only possible for about 20 percent of products worldwide. In the Netherlands, we are doing much better, but we are still not good enough. Now they are trying there Circular circles project To bring about change with many universities.

In this episode, we talk with the founder of this project Jan Henk Willink from TU Delft. He explains how they are trying to use various lines of research to enable better recycling and longer lifespan of electronics at a time of scarcity of critical raw materials.

We also spoke to Jasper Coppen about his research into corrosion, and to Sjoerd de Jong about computer models that would make it possible to better predict how long devices will last at all.

In the next episode – tomorrow in the broadcast – we’ll visit Radboud University, where the same project is looking into smarter, more sustainable connections between parts in chips.

TU Delft has it next week – the week in which it is also there The European Summit on Bio-Raw Materials is held – private Material Week. Many researchers will be on display and there will be many events to attend.