The planet is becoming less lenient with our reluctance to be more sustainable.
This has been evidenced by record highs and lows in temperatures across the globe, sea levels rising at a concerning rate, rivers drying up at an equally unprecedented pace, and (un)natural disasters ravaging cities ill-prepared for such occurrences.
The global science community is urging we do more than acknowledge humanity’s impact upon the earth’s climate; we need also to act upon it.
Although our team are enthusiastic supporters of the production of clean energy - such as the innovative work of Newcastle’s Diffuse Energy in the wind energy space - we believe that work needs to also be made broadly across all industries; change needs to be made on a behavioural level.
The reality is that modern society’s innate production and consumption habits need to be dramatically shifted.
Through our research and observations in this space, we see this widespread behavioural change to best be realised through a specific economic model that incentivises active participation from all players. This particular model, known as the circular economy, asks for us to consider sustainability and re-usability at every stage of the production chain.
As designers of commercial electronic products, we acknowledge our tiny piece in this economic puzzle. We also know that change demands actions from many small contributors working in unison.
Sometimes diagrams work better than words.
The first image illustrates our current linear economic model overlapped with the circular model (we’re seeing some work in these spaces already). The second image illustrates the ideal model in which all our material assets are returned into the economy.
So what can actually be done today, tomorrow, and into the next decade to ensure we decrease our ‘make, use, waste’ economy?
If I had the answer to this, it would make writing this blog a whole lot easier.
What I can share is what I’m observing as a climate-conscious writer and colleague to a group of electronics engineers who also share a concern for our planet’s future.
Disposables are everywhere.
It’s almost comical how many times a single board’s components are quadruple wrapped when they come to us in the post. We don’t want to point the finger at any specific parts providers for keeping our chips and diodes safe for the overseas journey, however, we are curious about how viable a more green packaging solution could be for the electronics supply market.
If no parts providers are ready to make the shift to recyclable packaging, there are opportunities for others in the electronics manufacturing economy to be more circular.
The recycling industry is tasked with a lot of challenges - both now and into the foreseen circular future - from the repurposing of plastics to the tricky problem of what to actually do with e-waste.
We love the work of start-ups like Re-fil who have developed a 3D printer filament from car dashboards, plastic bottles, yogurt cups, and parts of old refrigerators. Seeing as we employ 3D printing in a number of our product prototyping processes, this is an encouraging step in the right direction. For us folks in the electronics manufacturing ecosystem, employing repurposing innovations such as this can allow significant opportunities for us to be a little more sustainable in each of our respective processes.
And what is to be done about the infamous e-waste?
I’ve come across some pretty shocking documentaries (don’t watch this) that illustrate the deeply destructive repercussions of the Western world’s obsession in the newest version of phone, toaster, and hair straightener. Most of us feel uncomfortable with throwing our old phones in the bin which is why there are more hoarded phones in Australian households than there are Australians.
Fortunately, Newcastle has some great resources on how we can carefully dispose of and recycle these problem wastes (which includes what you can do with those pesky batteries as well)! It’s important that we all - whether consumer, business operator or both - educate ourselves on where and how to treat our e-waste.
In terms of our product development output, embedded hardware - AKA electronic devices with function-specific, non-programmable software on the inside - have a better life expectancy than, say, a phone or laptop because customers aren’t typically demanding a newer version of their industrial monitoring device every year. It’s more about the hardware’s actual efficiency rather than its trend value.
Take our customer’s Trough Monitor device for example: developing a product that leverages a LoRaWAN network means long range, low bandwidth signals can be sent with very little power exhaustion (with the batteries predicted to last 10 years+!)
Nevertheless, the devices we develop for our clients aren’t immune to end-of-life. As such, we’re endeavouring to become further educated in how more recyclable and repurpose-friendly materials can be employed in our work.
Evidently, the room to innovate in the electronics manufacturing economy is vast, to say the least.
Fortunately, we’re already seeing some promising moves within Australia from the likes of the University of NSW (UNSW) through the development of their E-waste Microfactory.
Their modular Microfactories have the ability to operate on a site as small as 50 square metres and can be located wherever waste may be stockpiled. The Microfactories are a series of small machines and devices which can perform specified functions that have the potential to transform components from electronics waste into new, valuable materials for re-use.
Although UNSW’s innovations are still in the early research phase, the process opportunities created through this technology could spell enormous benefits for the circularity of the hardware electronics industry in the near foreseeable future.
Is the explosion in the Internet of Things making us accrue more things?
Too often, technology is developed to satisfy a fleeting market. The marketing buzz around AI, edge computing, Internet of Things (IoT), and suites of ‘smart’ tech have created a demand for electronics in industries whose users might not be able to be catered for specifically enough to allow the proposed ‘smart solutions’ to be successfully implemented.
In our project consultations, we like to ensure that a product can be something that makes sense to the business’ needs into the long term. If we can tell that a prospective customer may have approached us under the influence of the buzz bandwagon, we dig deep to first find out what “needing” IoT actually means to their project in their own terms.
Through instilling this intention-seeking approach to our customer consultations, our team can continue to grow a framework that can allow the most practical, and hopefully long-service-life products to enter the market.
These product design conversations allow for an ‘IoT for good’ (such as NSW Health Pathology’s rapid pathology data services and Hunter Water’s connected pipe monitoring) rather than an ‘IoT for bad’ (such as the connected flip flops, bread, and water bottles that aren’t worth all the money and assumed waste that might result) to forge forward.
Can circularity really exist amongst an industry with exponential growth in tech demand?
When I began writing this, I was a little ambitious.
The idealist in me hoped to not only provide the answers, but to leverage our business in starting a circularity revolution in the electronics manufacturing industry, while I was at it.
Fortunately, my boss advised me that we probably don’t have the capacity for such a pursuit (we’re still growing our lean engineering team, after all).
The reality is that everyone in the economic sphere - the electronics designers, manufacturers, retailers, and consumers - we are all required to shift our behaviours to ensure that new, technology-supported processes can provide something of value within a resource-scarce environment.
By sharing the process innovations of a handful of contributors within the electronics industry, our team hopes to inspire some further thought and conversation as to what each of us can do individually in order to shift our behaviours for the betterment of the industry - and the planet - at large.
Afterword: Last week, I was extremely fortunate to attend the 2019 World Electronics Forum in Adelaide. I got to chatting to Rose Reed and John Gertsakis of E-waste Watch about the empowering role electronics designers have in influencing the wider industry to become more sustainable in the way they make, use, and dispose of their products.
E-Waste Watch are a newly established not-for-profit research-driven organisation based in Australia who focus on accelerating electronics sustainability, proactive stewardship and robust circular solutions across the entire product life-cycle.
If you’re interested in finding out more about the circular economy and the steps electronics designers and manufacturers can make for greater sustainability within the industry, I strongly recommend you visit their website where they have created a wealth of research and industry backed resources.
If you’re looking for designers who will consider your product at every stage of its life-cycle, please drop our technology specialists a line.