Did you know it is Circular Electronics Day?

Sweden – Approximately 50 million tonnes of IT products and other electronics are thrown away all around the world every year. In order to raise awareness and curb this noxious e-waste trend, the Swedish Environmental Research Institute, Chalmers University in Sweden and several other industry partners have dubbed today Circular Electronics Day.

Products that are functional should be given a second chance before being collected as waste, and services that enable this should be made visible and used by more people, so argues Andreas Rehn, criteria developer for the sustainability certification TCO Certified.

Moreover, the requirements for the reuse and recycling of IT products and other electronics ‘must be improved’.

The parties behind the campaign have made a top 3 list of ‘simple steps’ to help boost the reuse of electronics.

1. When buying electronics, check if the product you want is available second hand or if a product with a sustainability certification is available

2. Erase old data and sell your products to give them a second life

3. If you do not want to sell your old products, hand them in to a recycling facility or another collection point

‘The purpose of #CircularElectronicsDay is to highlight the positives of reusing products and for people to share ideas and tips under the hashtag. We can all inspire each other to reuse more and make sure that products have a second life instead of collecting dust in a drawer,’ Rehner comments.