Session: DFMLC-01-01: Life Cycle, Human Factors, Supply Chain, and Circular Economy

Paper Number: 147949

147949 - Transitioning Towards Circular Consumer Electronics Products 

The adoption of Circular Economy (CE) practices is continuing to gain momentum, driven by its potential to promote efficient use of resources, maximize the value of materials and products, and mitigate issues such as resource scarcity, environmental degradation, and waste generation. In the present digital era, consumer electronics have become ubiquitous, providing numerous conveniences in various aspects of daily life. However, the significant increase in the production and use of consumer electronics products coupled with the unplanned EoL management leads to the depletion of rare earth materials, increasing carbon emissions, and growing electronic waste, thus presenting unique sustainability challenges. Numerous studies have been proposed to address these issues and promote the development of circular electronic products. Consumer electronics industry-led initiatives, such as the Circular Electronics Partnership (CEP), have also made a concerted effort to establish key requirements to ensure the circularity of consumer electronic products. Operationalizing these requirements to facilitate more effective decision-making during the product design stage necessitates the identification of more specific attributes and indicators that characterize them, as well as relevant metrics for their assessment. This paper presents specific circular product (CP) attributes identified and compiled from extant literature. The relevancy of these attributes was verified in consultation with industry practitioners. These attributes were then mapped to the broad, generic requirements proposed by the CEP. By doing so, this research contributes to translating the CEP-proposed requirements into more specific and actionable attributes to facilitate the design and manufacturing of CPs in the consumer electronics industry.

Presenting Author: Junwon Ko University of Kentucky, the Institute for Sustainable Manufacturing (ISM)

Presenting Author Biography: Junwon Ko (corresponding author) is a Ph.D. student in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Kentucky with research interests in Circular Economy, Circular Product Design, and Artificial Intelligence (AI). He has a BS degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Kentucky.

Authors:

Junwon Ko University of Kentucky, the Institute for Sustainable Manufacturing (ISM)
Gisele Bortolaz Guedes University of Kentucky, the Institute for Sustainable Manufacturing (ISM)
Fazleena Badurdeen University of Kentucky, the Institute for Sustainable Manufacturing (ISM)
i.s. Jawahir University of Kentucky, the Institute for Sustainable Manufacturing (ISM)
Kc Morris National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)
Vincenzo Ferrero National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)