Finnish consortium participating in Sustronics e-waste and materials project

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The EU project Sustronics has been set up to lead the European electronics industry towards using more sustainable materials, as well as improving methods of design and manufacturing and delivering improved circularity and energy efficiency.

www.newelectronics.co.uk/, Nov. 14, 2023 – 

The project has a budget of EUR 40 million and is headed by Philips and is intended to pioneer design, materials and manufacturing of devices that will comply with strict sustainability demands that are, in part, goals of the European Green Deal and help companies meet the requirements of upcoming EU legislation concerning sustainable products.

The 3-year project comprises of nine pilots with the aim of redesigning existing devices or creating entirely new ones.

The Finnish research organisation VTT, which is leading a consortium of Finnish companies as part of the Sustronics project, will develop sustainable materials and manufacturing processes for electronic products, as well as circularity enablers, namely smart tags as data carriers for digital product passports.

In addition to VTT and the Finnish Tampere University, six other Finnish companies representing key steps in the value chain of sustainable electronics are participating including: Canatu, Movesense, Screentec, Tervakoski, UpCode, and UPM Raflatac. The Finnish partners are co-funded by Business Finland.

According to the World Economic Forum, 53 million tonnes of electronic waste was discarded in 2019 alone and this number is set to increase by 38% in less than ten years.

The use of traditional materials for electronics is no longer viable due to their finite nature and the environmental damage caused by excessive e-waste, consequently, this calls for new materials and the uptake of the circular economy by the electronics industry.

Environmental and resource realities are also joined by legislative pressure to address sustainability issues with electronics. During early 2024, new legislation – Ecodesign for Sustainable Products – concerning sustainability requirements of products will come into effect. As a result, all products sold in the EU will be required to prove their sustainability. The new legislation will impact both the European electronics industry as well as any company coming into the EU market.

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