The amount of electronics produced is expected to increase considerably in the coming years, with the use of raw materials in the sector expected to double by 2050. The amount of electronic waste has also almost doubled over the past 16 years and only 20 per cent of this waste is collected efficiently.
The EU is calling for more sustainable solutions from the electronics industry. The VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland is helping to develop them by combining printed electronics, bio-based materials and ecodesign thinking.
The environmental load of the electronics industry can be significantly reduced by moving from traditional manufacturing processes to printed electronics and from fossil-based materials to bio-based materials.
By using printing processes, up to 90 per cent of fossil materials can be replaced in some applications. At the same time, energy consumption may decrease to one fifth compared with traditional processes. Ecodesign promotes...