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Circular economy and electronic waste

Nature Electronics volume 2, pages 86–89 (2019)Cite this article

Electronic waste is the fastest growing category of hazardous solid waste in the world. Addressing the problem will require international collaboration, economic incentives that protect labour, and management approaches that minimize adverse impacts on the environment and human health.

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Fig. 1: Approaches to electronic waste dismantling.

photograph in panel a courtesy of Apple, Inc.; photographs in panels b–e taken on location by O.A.O.

Fig. 2: Illustration of a simplified self-help group park.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Joint Laboratory of Environment Simulation and Pollution Control, School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China

    Abhishek Kumar Awasthi & Jinhui Li

  2. Advanced Resource Efficiency Centre, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK

    Lenny Koh

  3. Department of Population Health & Disease Prevention, University of California, Irvine, CA, USA

    Oladele A. Ogunseitan

Authors
  1. Abhishek Kumar Awasthi
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  2. Jinhui Li
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  3. Lenny Koh
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  4. Oladele A. Ogunseitan
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Oladele A. Ogunseitan.

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Competing interests

Oladele A. Ogunseitan co-chairs the Green Chemistry Advisory Board for Apple, Inc. (unpaid). Jinhui Li is executive director of the United Nations Basel Convention Regional Centre for Asia and the Pacific.

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Awasthi, A.K., Li, J., Koh, L. et al. Circular economy and electronic waste. Nat Electron 2, 86–89 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41928-019-0225-2

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