Innovation in remanufacturing

The International CARE Electronics Office is holding Going Green – CARE INNOVATION 2018 – a conference on electronics and the environment - from 26-29 November at the Schoenbrunn Palace Conference Centre in Vienna.  The conference promises a wide range of presentations on progress towards the circular economy and the development of resource-efficient electr(on)ic products and services, discussing how the electr(on)ics and automotive industry can contribute to sustainable development, and which particular products, technologies and services will be needed. 

It’s a sector in which Microsoft has characterised the current material flow as "catastrophic". Meanwhile, WEEE recyclers have expressed surprise at the EU Parliament’s vote on 15 November to reduce the permitted level of fire retardant deca-BDE to 10 ppm in recycled plastics: they are now expecting almost all WEEE plastics to be sent to energy-from-waste.

David Fitzsimons, representing the European Remanufacturing Council, will be taking part in the conference’s afternoon session on remanufacturing and repair on 28 November, presenting on innovation in remanufacturing.  The remanufacture of components and whole products is established in many B2B sectors, and David’s talk, entitled The world´s most advanced electronic component and product remanufacturing facilities, will highlight robots at ALEC GmbH and the cost reductions achieved by syncreon at its plant at Zary in Poland where the company has successfully integrated five completely different products in a single managed remanufacturing process.