Sustainability – what we do

A UN-backed report funded by the EU outlines a proposal whereby the recycling of certain components and sub-systems within electronic equipment should be mandated by law. The report by the CEWASTE consortium – led by the Switzerland-based World Resources Forum – says this requirement should apply to certain e-waste categories, including: End-of-life circuit boards, certain magnets in disc drives and electric vehicles, EV and other special battery types, and fluorescent lamps. The measure will be essential to safeguard these components against supply disruption, say the authors, who warn that access to the critical raw materials (CRMs) in these products is vulnerable to geo-political tides. Recycling and reusing them is “crucial” to secure ongoing supplies for regional manufacturing of electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) essential for defence, renewable energy generation, LEDs and other green technologies, and to the competitiveness of European firms.