iNEMI Develops Tools for Sustainable Electronics

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Information and communications technology (ICT) products are essential to modern society and comprise a significant portion of the global economy. They also have a not-so-insignificant environmental impact because they consume large amounts of resources and energy during manufacture, use, and disposal. The short life of ICT products, coupled with increasing demand for products, worsens the scenario.

An initial, but key step in reducing the environmental impact of a product is to measure that impact. Lifecycle assessment (LCA) is the well-recognized methodology to assess environmental impacts through a product’s life. However, traditional LCA processes are typically expensive and time consuming. In many cases, a simpler approach can be employed to provide guidance and further enable adoption of LCA to reduce environmental impact.

Given the current climate change challenges, it is necessary for ICT manufacturers to reduce this impact. To that end, the International Electronics Manufacturing Initiative (iNEMI) and its members have developed two tools that can aid the electronics industry in this effort—the Reuse and Recycling Metrics tool1 and the Eco-Impact Estimator tool.

Reuse and Recycling Metric Tool
iNEMI’s Reuse and Recycling Metrics (R&RM) project focused on increasing circularity for electronic products. The project team developed a predictive metric that helps product designers, recyclers, and refurbishers understand how their choices in design and materials affect the end-of-life performance of their products and identify ways to improve the final outcome.

After evaluating existing recyclability and reusability tools, the R&RM team concluded that the industry had limited means of practically assessing the circular economic value (recyclability, reusability, reparability and refurbish-ability) of ICT products. The team developed the iNEMI R&RM tool as an aid to both product designers and end-of-life providers to provide visibility prior to a product being manufactured as to the impacts of material choices, product design choices, and the region(s) where a product would be recovered at end of life.

Continue reading the rest of this article in the June issue of SMT007 Magazine.