Dell, Glencore, Microsoft and Sims are among the founding collaborators of the Circular Electronics Partnership, a new initiative focused on boosting recovery and reuse of electronics.
The Circular Electronics Partnership, which is being facilitated by a handful of organizations including the Global Electronics Council and the World Economic Forum, was announced in a March 18 release.
The partnership’s website describes the group as “the biggest names in tech, consumer goods and waste management working together for a circular economy.”
“We aim to reimagine the value of electrical products and materials using a lifecycle approach, reducing waste from the design stage through to product use and recycling,” the organization stated on its website. The group is focusing on the following product categories: temperature exchange equipment, screens and monitors, lamps, large equipment, and small IT.”
The partnership published a vision document identifying various areas for collaboration, including efforts to design for circularity, drive demand for circular products and services, scale responsible business models for circular electronics, increase the official electronics collection rate, and aggregate material so that – by 2030 – all electronic devices can move into a reverse supply chain.
The group plans to support commercial financing mechanisms for increased collection, to define what constitutes circular electronic products and services, to enact a global procurement commitment related to sustainable electronics, to develop a “responsible recycling and circular material data system,” and to pilot two projects tracking and tracing materials.
The full list of initial partners includes Accenture, Arcelik, Atea, Averda, Baker & McKenzie LLP, Cisco, Clariant, Closing the Loop, Dell Technologies, Enel Global Infrastructure and Networks, Glencore U.S., Global Enabling Sustainability Initiative, Global Resale Ltd., Globe Telecom, Global Electronics Council, Google, GSMA, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, HP Inc., Huawei, iNEMI, International Telecommunication Union, Jabil, Karo Sambhav Private Ltd., Microsoft, NamiGreen, Nokia, Philips, Platform for Accelerating the Circular Economy, Responsible Business Alliance, Safaricom, Seagate Technology, Security Matters, Sims Lifecycle Services, Solving the e-Waste Problem, Umicore Precious Metals Refining, Veolia, Whirlpool EMEA Spa, World Business Council for Sustainable Development, World Economic Forum and Xerox.
