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On a hot Friday afternoon, the 48 students gathered in Atlas to present the results of their 8-week multidisciplinary challenge based team work to a five-person jury. The fact that the students were very aware of the problem became immediately apparent, since each of the eight presentations started by stating the cold facts:

‘In 2023, 62,000 tons of keyboards were thrown out. If you were to put them behind each other, you could pave the way from Amsterdam to Sydney and back’
‘In 2024, we generated a whopping one billion kilograms of e waste’
‘In 2030, we are expected to throw out the equivalent of some 8000 Eiffel Towers of electronic waste each year’

Students from eight different majors studied the problem from different angles, and came up with possible solutions. Most groups focused on the problem of repairability and reusability. ‘Too often, if something small breaks, you have to throw out the entire device. As a result, many of the discarded devices still contain fully functional components.’

Too often, if something small breaks, you have to throw out the entire device.

Students from the new Circular Electronics course

Trapped monetary value

That notion for example was the starting point for a group that designed a process flow for the refurbishment of broken coffee machines. They not only developed a simulation model to calculate the expected cost, profit, repair time and overage price point, but also came up with a logistics solution for the collection and refurbishment of the machines, based on existing companies like Mediamarkt, PreZero, Renewi and ITGroen.

Circular computer peripherals

Four groups built their own, more circular, alternative for existing electronic systems. One group came up with a new type of mouse. ‘A mouse is produced in high volumes, has a short lifespan, and is a rather simple product, which is easy to change in a short time,’ this group motivated their choice of subject. Their alternative is easy to repair, robust and able to adapt to changing demands of users, for example by enabling the addition of extra buttons or even the replacement of the entire shell. ‘Adjusting or repairing the mouse does not require any soldering. You only need a screwdriver, and the online manual you can easily access through a QR code on the bottom.’

In the computer peripherals category there was also a presentation about a long lasting Bluetooth keyboard made out of recycled and refurbished components. By using easily and cheaply replaceable mechanical switches instead of membranes, the students aimed for the production of a ‘keyboard for life’.

Sustainable speakers

Two groups came up with new types of Bluetooth speakers, either based on components from salvaged speakers, or on an entirely new, modular design that makes the speaker easier to repair. ‘By prolonging the lifespan of a speaker from the current average of 4 years to 6 years, you could reduce the associated CO₂ emissions with one third,’ they claimed. But they also were realistic. ‘To make a real impact with such a change, we first need to make people want it,’ they said.

Willingness to repair

That message resonated with the group that developed an indicator for high-end speakers to pinpoint to the user what is wrong in case of failure. ‘Even people studying at a technical university are not that inclined to repair an electronic device,’ they found in a survey they conducted. ‘Most of the respondents would bring it to a repair shop, or simply replace the entire device.’

Tracking waste

If you are to discard your broken device, where does such waste eventually end up?, another group wondered. ‘Too often, instead of being recycled or reused, the waste is sent off to developing countries, where it pollutes the environment.’ To create transparency in the recycling process and verify if the associated recycling companies take their responsibility, they created a tracker with an associated app that follows and displays the process of recycling of electronics.

Nudging through labels

Also on the front end of the consumer’s behavior there are possibilities for a change for the better, another surprising angle demonstrated. This group developed a labeling system that uses a color-coded, letter-graded system to indicate the circularity of an electrical product. Based on five subcategories – being recyclability, material usage, reusability, durability and repairability – they calculated how much that product would contribute to the amount of e waste. As a use case, they applied their Nutri-Score-like label to keyboards, investigating every little detail from how many screws are needed during repair to the average number of keystrokes the keyboard can take to the point of failure.  

All in all, what the presentations clearly showed is how improving the circularity of electronics is at the top of the brightest minds.