Many different environmental impacts arise from electronics, and the handling of electronic waste
(e-waste) is rising quickly to the top of the agenda. E-waste is a significant issue for Europe:
Improving its management is an explicit goal of the Green Deal objectives and the Circular Economy
Action Plan (3.1. Electronics and ICT). However, due to the requirement to involve the whole value
chain, from raw material suppliers to consumers, the complex material background and supply chain,
as well as the multitude of competing interests, achieving circularity in the electronics industry is
challenging.
The main aim of the EECONE project is to reduce e-waste on a European scale.
To this end, 49 partners from 16 European countries covering different sectors of activity have joined
forces to propose practical ways of reducing the volume of e-waste in the EU. Crucially, the entities
that make up EECONE represent all parts of the value chain. EECONE's approach is
interdisciplinary, covering the social, economic, technological, and policy aspects.
The environmental impact arising from e-waste can thus be reduced by working in three principal
areas:
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Increase service lifetime of electronic products by application of ecodesign guidelines for increasing
their reliability and their repair rate, thereby reducing the volume of e-waste. Reduction and
replacement of materials to decrease the impact of e-waste.
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Reduction and replacement of materials in electronic components and systems to decrease the impact of e-waste.
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Improved circularity by reusing, recycling, and waste valorising materials/elements from electronic
products.
EECONE's vision is to develop and embed the constraints linked to managing the end-of-life of
electronic products from the very beginning – in the development or process design. EECONE is
paving the way as a first step toward a zero-waste electronic industry. The "6R concept will fully
guide EECONE" (Reduce, Reliability, Repair, Reuse, Refurbish, Recycle).
