Each year a new wave of computers, smartphones and accessories swarm the market with smaller components made from increasingly complex materials. While this technological evolution may be exciting for consumers, the trend towards obsolescence is impeding our progress towards a zero-waste society, according to researchers working in the area.

The idea of a zero-waste society, also known as a circular economy, is to cut resource use, reduce waste and boost recycling. At the moment, we live in a so-called linear economy where we dispose of our resources once we’ve finished with them. Adopting a circular economy model would close this wasteful loop and keep materials in use for as long as possible, extracting the maximum value throughout their life and then transforming them into new goods.

This has clear upsides for our environmental footprint, but researchers say progress is being undermined by a disposable culture in the tech industry.

‘When you look at the design of products, you see several trends that are not helping enable the circular economy,’ said Dr Tjerk Wardenaar, an energy and environment consultant at PNO Consultants in the Netherlands. He coordinates the EU-funded NEW_InnoNet project, which is helping to re-examine value chains.

‘You see a trend of miniaturisation, everything has to be smaller and smarter, and this makes it more difficult at the end of the value chain to recover materials,’ he said. ‘Second, you see increasingly complex materials that are more difficult to take apart at the end of the life-cycle. Then, there is an increasing and rapid update of products.’

Recycling

With new designs released each year, waste companies are struggling to adapt their sorting technology to this ever-changing world.

A smartphone, for instance, can include up to 50 different types of metal. Similarly, plastics can contain over 25 different compounds, and this makes recycling tougher.

‘It is difficult for plastic packaging recyclers to come up with good quality plastic that also can compete with the currently low costs of virgin (new) plastics,’ said Dr Wardenaar.

Combined, these factors remove economic incentives to adapt to a circular economy.

In response, NEW_InnoNet has brought together experts from different industries who specialize in electronic, automotive and plastic production to identify bottlenecks for the near-zero-waste economy. The aim is to come up with a new European strategic agenda which highlights key research and innovation priorities.

‘There is not enough communication between specialists and practitioners at different parts of the value chain,’ said Dr Wardenaar. ‘NEW_InnoNet is there to organize a collaboration among them, to let them talk among each other and share information.’

To read the full story, visit http://horizon-magazine.eu/article/tech-trends-undermine-move-zero-waste-economy_en.html.

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