RAEE recycling project
Basic information
Project Title
RAEE recycling project
Full project title
How to automate the recycling of any part of a PCB
Category
Shaping a circular industrial ecosystem and supporting life-cycle thinking
Project Description
The project
Geographical Scope
Cross-border/international
Project Region
CROSS-BORDER/INTERNATIONAL: Italy, Germany
Urban or rural issues
It addresses urban-rural linkages
Physical or other transformations
It refers to other types of transformations (soft investment)
EU Programme or fund
No
Description of the project
Summary
My concept is to collect all types of RAEE and then reuse or recycle all parts of the PCB that control these objects. Nowadays the percentage of recycling is about 45% in the EU (from Eurostat) for electrical and electronic equipment. My project aims to collect every single component and sell it to industries that can buy it at a lower price than a new one. Another point is the automation of processes through robotics and AI that recognize different components and count them to have a sort of big register of electronic components, this is possible with multiple cameras that take images of the electronic boards to get analysed by AI. After heating the board the parts will desolder and a robot can take them and place them in apposite areas.
Key objectives for sustainability
Sustainability is the core of my concept because future generations will have access to electronics at lower prices due to the reuse of components, there will be a circular chain based on high-performance recycling of PCB and we can imagine a reduction of mining of new materials for microchips. There are benefits for all categories of sustainability, social, environmental and political due to an increase in trading between nations for these components that we now import from the East.
Key objectives for aesthetics and quality
For sure the concept improves the aesthetics of landscapes because there won't be landfills for RAEE anymore, other cultural benefits are examples of a truly circular economy that allows people to imagine a future without a linear conception of things.
Key objectives for inclusion
In terms of inclusion, the concept aim is a collaboration between different nations with different knowledge to reach the ultimate aim: the complete reuse of electronic components or full recycling. In order to do that is needed different skills and cooperation between people involved in the project.
How Citizens benefit
Citizens will see a reduction in the cost o all electronic devices and a reduction in price increase due to the blockchain shortage. Society will be involved in the birth of the centres of collection of RAEE which need a strong communication act to involve all people in the recycling and differentiation of waste.
Physical or other transformations
It refers to other types of transformations (soft investment)
Innovative character
The innovative character is the company that provides goods reuses them and selling to other people or companies that will have a cost reduction and sustainable action.
Disciplines/knowledge reflected
The disciplines involved are STEM, in particular the Engineer of materials, and informatics to train the AI models and mechanics to build an automatized process. The synergy between them is fundamental to reaching the aim.
How stakeholders are engaged
The different stakeholders will contribute to creating a new circular economy, first in a local and regional sight and then to involve more countries and make them collaborate through investments in the project which aim is create a company specialized in the reuse and recycling of electronic components for reduce the imports of rare earth elements from China in order to create a Europe supply chain.
Global challenges
The global challenges are a lot, first the competition with big companies that have an interest in making new microchips instead of reusing them, then the specialized companies in this sector that have the knowledge to replicate the project and create their one. Last but not least create a team that works with synergy to create the base platform, both hardware and software, to start the beta phase.
Learning transferred to other parties
Every element of the concept can be replicated in other places, countries, and groups because once you have the base collect platform you needed to create local commerce based on the reuse of components that you have collected.
Keywords
Recycle
Rare earth elements
Reuse
Indipendency
Microchip
