Sustainable Electronics: From Dumped E-Waste To A Circular Economy: What Is Needed?

Abstract: This talk aims to give an overview of the current state and the challenges for electronics sustainability. The lecture reviews the legislation and revised legislative proposals on waste and their impact on electronics design and the resulting lifecycles, including the EU’s long-term targets on a circular economy. Currently applied reuse and recycling steps and methods for WEEE (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment) components and materials will be presented. The talk introduces the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology and presents two case studies for electronic devices. Environmental impacts of semiconductors and packaging are discussed and the needs for applying Ecodesign principals and recycling improvements to approach carbon neutrality will be highlighted. Bio: Mervi Paulasto-Kröckel is professor at Aalto University School of Electrical Engineering in Finland. She completed her D.Sc at Helsinki University of Technology in 1995. Prior to joining Aalto University at the end of 2008, she worked over 12 years in the automotive semiconductor industry in various R&D and management positions. Her group — Electronics Integration and Reliability — focuses on advanced materials and interconnect technologies for MEMS/NEMS and power electronics, electronics sustainability aspects, as well as multi-material assembly behavior under different loads and their characteristic failure mechanisms. Prof. Paulasto-Kröckel has over 120 international publications in fields of microelectronics packaging and interfacial compatibility of dissimilar materials.