New EU Toolkit for sustainable Electronic Products

With "Developing Recyclable Electronic Devices: A playbook for design for & from recycling", Theresa Aigner (Fraunhofer IZM) and Thijs Feenstra (Pezy Group) present a book that reveals the reality of circular product design - and shows concrete ways in which design, material development and recycling can move closer together. The publication is intended as a playbook: a collection of practical recommendations that show that recyclability does not begin at the end of a product's life, but with the first design decision.

A playbook for circular electronics

The book combines four years of research, cross-industry collaboration and practical tests and makes it clear why circular electronics often fails less due to a lack of ambition than due to a lack of coordination between the players. In five practical case studies, stakeholders along the entire value chain - from recycling to product design - have recorded real-life tips, practical guidelines and advice for the work of designers, engineers and product developers in the playbook. This allows them to get straight into the implementation of circular devices without the development teams having to become recycling experts themselves. The E Book is a publication of the Horizon Europe-funded Increace project. It is available for free download at: https://increace-project.eu/increace-results/increace-book/.1

New evaluation tool for product development

In addition to the book, the Increace consortium has developed a practice-oriented tool for circular product design as part of the project: the Recyclability Assessment Tool (RAT). The RAT is used for the independent and standardized assessment of the recyclability of electronic products. It was developed by Philips and Pezy and tested and optimized by industry partners. It enables design and development teams to identify critical factors that could affect the recyclability of their products - such as problematic materials, compounds or surface treatments - at an early stage of the development process in order to find possible alternatives.

Significance for the EU plastics strategy

Together, the book and the tool form a new foundation for the circular development of electronic products in Europe. The measures and publications of the Increace consortium, such as the playbook and the RAT tool, show once again how important it is for the EU's plastics strategy to consider recycling right from the design phase and to provide the public with guidelines for product development.

The ceremonial conclusion of the Increace project will take place on May 20, 2026 in Brussels at Hoek 38 - a venue and meeting place for research and knowledge run by the FWO (Fonds voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek - Vlaanderen).