National circular economy research programme launches

Have you ever heard of the Tasmanian devil?  It’s actually nothing like the cartoon version—the real devil is a black animal with white markings that’s smaller than a cocker spaniel, and it’s in trouble.  The Tasmanian devil once lived on the continent of Australia but now survives in the wild only on the island state of Tasmania, just off Australia’s south coast.  It’s the largest surviving marsupial carnivore in the world.  A marsupial’s young develop in a pouch on their mother’s belly rather than in a uterus inside their mother’s body.  Other than females with young, the devils are solitary, living in a burrow in the ground during the day and coming out at dusk to feed.  Devils can hunt for prey but much of their diet consists of dead animals—carrion–such as road-killed wallabies and wombats.  A disease spreading across the island since 1996 has decimated the devil population.

Think about how many different pieces of technology the average household has purchased in the last decade. Phones, TVs, computers, tablets, and game consoles don’t last forever, and repairing them is difficult and often as expensive as simply buying a replacement. Electronics are integral to modern society, but electronic waste (e-waste) presents a complex and growing challenge in the path toward a circular economy–a more sustainable economic system that focuses on recycling materials and minimizing waste. Adding to the global waste challenge is the prevalence of dishonest recycling practices by companies who claim to be recycling electronics but actually dispose of them by other means, such as in landfills or shipping the waste to other countries.