About the episode
I always hand in my broken electronic devices, but is anything actually done with them? In a time of scarce materials you would hope so, but recycling these types of products is quite complicated.
This is only possible for about 20 percent of products worldwide. In the Netherlands we are doing a lot better, but still not good enough. They are now trying to change that within the Circular Circuits project with several universities.
In this episode we speak to the founder of that project Jan-Henk Welink from TU Delft. He explains how they are trying to use various lines of research to enable better recycling and a longer lifespan of electronics in a time of scarce critical raw materials.
We also spoke to Jasper Coppen about his research into corrosion and Sjoerd de Jong about his computer models that should make it possible to better predict how long devices will last at all.
In the next episode – tomorrow in the feed – we will visit Radboud University, where the same project is looking at smarter and more sustainable connections between parts in chips.
TU Delft will have its own Materials Week next week – the week in which a European summit on critical raw materials will also take place. Many more researchers will be featured and there will be several events to attend.
Tags: recycling electronics successful
