Bridging the gap in forward and reverse supply chains for evolving electronic products

The potential for environmental, social, and economic advances enabled by information and communication technologies (ICTs) is tremendous: `Smart Grid´ systems hold promise for resource conservation and climate change mitigation; innovations in ICT help transition countries from industrial to knowledge economies, and bridging the digital divide in developing countries can help achieve Millennium Development Goals worldwide: ending poverty, enabling universal education, and creating global partnerships. However, the benefit possible from global use of ICTs cannot be realized without a corresponding build up of digital infrastructure. This projected increase in ICT products is of particular concern to environmental sustainability, in large part due to the global health, safety, and environmental effects of managing these products in the waste stream. The ability to quantify and manage environmental impacts of ICT products is complicated by continuous evolution of product form and function. The work described herein provides an assessment of how changing form factor and material composition in common consumer electronics - desktop and notebook computers - may influence the electronic waste stream in the U.S. Results indicate that dematerialization on a per product basis is largely offset by increasing volumes of the total waste stream. From an economic standpoint, end-of-life value will be enhanced by the increasing use of lightweight materials such as aluminum and magnesium but potentially impacted by decreasing precious metal content. This paper also suggests that common design for end-of-life heuristics may be less applicable to ICT products undergoing rapid technological progress, as exemplified by the changing form factor and lightweighting of the consumer notebook computer.