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Driven by the UN’s Sustainable Development goals, which has identified the issue of electronic waste growing significantly and the challenges of recycling/reusing electronic components, there is a need to research new possibilities in sustainable and recyclable printed electronic devices. The change in business models and industry and consumer device flows will also have implications. The circular model puts more emphasis back onto producers who have more knowledge to make an impact on the sustainable use of electronic devices than traditional waste management companies. This study, carried out in conjunction with the Arm-ECS Research Centre, explores the intersection of design and the circular economy. The paper identifies circular economy opportunities in the electronics sector via a review of both academic and grey literature and an accompanying SWOT analysis, with a focus on electronic components and the boards/packages (whole sub-systems, parts, materials) that make up electronic systems, and circular business models. Policy recommendations are provided. Challenges to be addressed and overcome in order to implement a transition to circularity for the electronics sector are identified and discussed.

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At the heart of the circular economy model is the reorientation of consumer behaviours away from disposing of items before they reach end of their functional life as a step towards resource efficiency and reduction of environmental impacts. One way to facilitate this change is to enable proactive redistribution of electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) with reuse value from urban spaces followed by high quality recycling at end-of-life. We have conducted the first assessment and critical evaluation of a model for the recovery of reusable EEE from a distinct urban mine (DUM) - in this case, a university. The Infrastructure, Service and Behaviour (ISB) model was used as a guide for interventions. EEE recovered from two Halls of Residence at the University of Southampton were characterised and sorted. From the items inspected, 97% was reusable and were donated to participating charities for redistribution via reuse/sale. The results show that an ISB Model system designed using choice architecture to recover reusable EEE from a DUM contributes strongly to extending products’ lifetimes and promotes circular economy ambitions. The study provides strong evidence of a viable reuse-based recovery system for small EEE in a university DUM and with a potential for replicability at global scale. It is recommended that a carefully planned and tailored system based on the ISB model should be put in place in universities for the recovery and redistribution of reusable EEE (ReEEE) and that recycling is implemented only after practical options for reuse have been exhausted.