Electronics often get thrown away after use because recycling them requires extensive work for little payoff.
Electronics often get thrown away after use because recycling them requires extensive work for little payoff. Two Virginia Tech researchers have found a way to change the game.
Between upgrades and breakdowns to cellphones, tablets, laptops, and appliances, so many electronics are getting tossed in the trash that they've taken on a name of their own: e-waste.
According to a 2024 report issued by the United Nations, the amount of e-waste worldwide has almost doubled in the past 12 years, from 34 billion to 62 billion kilograms — the equivalent of 1.55 million shipping trucks — and it's estimated to hit 82 billion kilograms by 2030. Just 13.8 billion kilograms — about 20 percent of the total — is expected to be recycled, a number projected to remain flat.
Put simply, we’re throwing away more and more electronics, and recycling isn’t keeping up. But a new study in Advanced Materials by two Virginia Tech research teams offers a potential solution to the e-waste problem: a recyclable material that could make electronics easier to break down and reuse.
Read more at Virginia Tech
Image: (From left) Ravi Tutika, Michael Bartlett, Josh Worch, and Meng Jiang test the recyclable circuit created by the teams from mechanical engineering and chemistry. (Credit: Photo by Alex Parrish for Virginia Tech)
